Doctor's Orders
by Lamminator
Summary: Post TDK. Bruce Wayne and Batman get caught up in a domestic dispute...and they can't walk away from it. Bruce/OC-ON HIATUS
1. Facades All Around

**A/N: **_I do not own Batman or anything you recongize (unfortunately...I'll gladly take Christian Bale off of anyone's hands, though)._

_For an introduction chapter, I made this extremely long. That wasn't my intent, but I couldn't find a better place to stop._

_WARNING: This story is rated (at the moment) for language because I can't help but curse like a sailor._

* * *

The seemingly happy couple stood near one of the walls in a large room of Bruce Wayne's temporary multi-story penthouse. They were surrounded by Wayne Enterprises' employees and clients and occasionally they spoke to others who approached them.

The man, one of Wayne Enterprises' lawyers, stood around six foot, three inches. He was dressed in the finest tuxedo he owned: black jacket and slacks with gold-colored vest and matching tie. His dress shirt was crisp and white. His shoes were black and shined to the point where one would be able to see themself if they looked close enough. He stood ramrod straight with a smug, lopsided smirk on his lips. His slightly shaggy, blonde hair was gelled back and his light green eyes sparkled, knowing he had a 'beautiful' woman on his arm.

The woman on his left, with her hand looped through his elbow, matched the man in garment colors. Her gold gown barely touched the floor; it was a halter-style gown with a deep neckline, reaching down to the middle of her breasts. The back of the dress was open, revealing her bare back of 'flawless' pale skin; material was covering her from her lower back down. She also wore matching high-heeled gold shoes. She came up to the bridge of the man's nose with her shoes on. Without the shoes, the top of her head would reach his chin. Her brown hair was pulled up into a loose bun. From the look on her face, anyone would think that she was happy or even excited to be there...this was far from the truth, however.

The man held a flute of champagne, while the woman clutched a highball glass of water; both occasionally took sips. When no one was around them, the man took a longer swig from the flute than necessary.

It was getting late in the evening when the host of the party decided to make his entrance. Bruce Wayne, a beautiful woman on each arm, walked up the stairs from the floor below, mostly ready to take on the sycophantic leeches. Upon reaching the top of the stairs, the room broke out into applause. The women with him made an immediate beeline over to the bar while Bruce walked to the center of the room (accepting a crystal goblet from Alfred as he walked up to Bruce) and calming the crowd as he did so.

"Ladies and gentlemen. I thank you for coming. Please, enjoy yourselves." He announced with a fake grin plastered on his face, and saluting them with his goblet.

He then turned and headed over to the edge of the room, where he stood next to Alfred to chat.

"What time is it?" He asked his butler, looking over the crowd.

"Not time for you to run away from this just yet, Master Wayne." Alfred replied in his English accent.

Bruce grimaced then took a drink of the sparkling grape juice in his hand.

Across the room, an older couple approached the man and woman.

"Mr. Nathan Hinckley, it's good to see you again. I wasn't expecting you to be here, actually." The older gentleman said to the younger one.

"Mr. Charles Newbury, how could I miss an opportunity like this? It's not every day that one gets invited to one of Wayne's parties." Nathan answered.

Charles nodded. "Indeed." He then held his arm out to the woman at his side. "This is my wife, Sandra."

Nathan nodded his head at the woman as she said a 'how do you do'.

"And who is your companion, Nathan?" Charles asked.

Nathan scowled briefly, before turning his head to look down at the woman on his arm. The look in his eyes told her that if she spoke without directly being spoken to, there would be consequences. Looking back at Charles, Nathan grinned proudly, even though it was all for show.

"This is my fiancée Milana Dolak." He said.

"Ah, Doctor Dolak. It is a pleasure to meet you. You're a neurologist, correct?" Charles asked.

Milana opened her mouth to speak.

"Yes, Milana is the head of neurology for Gotham General, but currently stationed at St. Luke's Hospital until they rebuild the fallen hospital." Nathan answered for her.

Milana shut her mouth and sighed through her nose gently, rolling her eyes subtly. She looked around the room to see what else was going on, since she was obviously not allowed to be involved in this conversation. A waiter passed by and she placed her empty glass on the tray, when she caught sight of the man of the night across the room. She drank him in, letting her eyes wander over his body. She turned her head away and back to the conversation, when Nathan placed his hand over hers on his arm and squeezed.

"It was nice chatting with you Charles, but we have yet to eat tonight." Nathan said as an excuse to get out of the boring conversation.

"Oh, of course. I'll see you at the office tomorrow, then." Charles replied, then put his arm lovingly around his wife's waist and the two walked off to chat with someone else.

"You're actually going to let me eat something?" Milana asked Nathan softly after the elder couple walked away.

"No. I just wanted the old bat to stop talking." Nathan growled, stepping in front of and facing her to block out the crowd from seeing their conversation. "And what did I tell you?"

"I didn't say a damn word, Nathan. You did all the talking, just like you said you would. I haven't been drinking. I haven't eaten. I have done nothing other than being your arm candy." Milana replied with a slight frown.

Nathan grinned suddenly, then reached up and ran his thumb between her eyebrows. "Don't frown, darling, you'll get wrinkles and I don't want you to have wrinkles." He said lowering his hand, then leaned down to kiss her.

She hated when he called her 'darling'...it was a term of endearment that did not constitute as part of their relationship.

Milana turned her head at the last moment to avoid his kiss, which made him kiss the corner of her mouth. Nathan didn't appreciate that, so his hand snapped up and he took her chin in between his thumb and index finger. Staring directly into her dark brown eyes, he glared at her with his light green eyes darkening and growled: "Never do that again. Do you understand? Especially not in public."

Eyes wide, Milana nodded. When Nathan lowered his hand, she looked down. "I'm sorry." She mumbled, knowing it is what he wanted to hear, but not meaning it.

Nathan smirked, then leaned in again to kiss her. This time, Milana did not pull away, knowing that it would mean worse than a scolding. When Nathan pulled back, he turned to stand next to Milana again, not looking at her, and pretending that nothing happened. He glanced around the room and saw that one of Wayne's other lawyers was walking towards him, his 'whore-of-the-month' on his arm. Nathan's own woman was more beautiful and ladylike than that woman.

Milana glanced away from her fiancée, swallowing the lump that formed in her throat. She didn't want to be engaged to this man, but it was not her decision. Taking a deep breath, she slowly scanned the room. Her eyes fell on Bruce Wayne again, then kept going, but when she saw that he was looking back at her, her eyes went back to him. After making eye contact, she quickly looked away, turning her attention back to the man and woman approaching her and Nathan, knowing that if Nathan saw, there would be even more hell to pay when they got home. Milana didn't pay attention to the new conversation that was being struck up. She no longer cared; she just wanted to leave this place and go back home to her bed.

Placing her hand on Nathan's upper arm, she looked up at him, then the two in front of them.

"Excuse me. I think I'm going to step outside for a little air." She said.

"Are you alright?" Nathan asked, pretending that he cared.

"Oh, yes. It's just a little stuffy. I'll be back in a few moments."

Milana then released Nathan's arm with both of her hands, turned, and casually walked around the edge of the room to where she saw the balcony earlier. The glass door to the balcony was propped open, allowing guests to come and go as they pleased. Milana walked over to the edge and rested her hands on the railing, ignoring the other couple sucking face at the dark other end. She let her head drop down to her chest. After taking an extremely deep breath to the point of almost passing out, she released it, raising her head and looking out towards the Gotham skyline. Standing up on her toes, she leaned over the railing and looked straight down, before leaning back. Because of her engagement, she was no longer able to experience thrills as she used to. She was trapped now. Lost in her own thoughts, Milana did not notice anyone else come out onto the balcony.

Bruce watched the woman in the tacky gold gown walk out onto the balcony. She looked sick or upset, so he followed her. She intrigued him; no woman has intrigued him like that since Rachel died over a year ago. Maybe it was because of the gold dress, he mused.

Standing at the door to the balcony, he kept an eye on her as he tried to attempt to not speak to anyone. One of his lawyers walked up to him (who it was, he didn't care, nor could he even remember the man's name) to introduce his wife to Bruce. He leaned against the doorway so he could face the older couple and keep an eye on the woman by turning his head. Bruce's concentration was only half, if that much, on the introduction his lawyer was making. The other part was on the woman. He saw her head drop, then when she leaned over the railing, his heart jumped into his throat. The last thing he needed was someone committing suicide from his penthouse. When she straightened again, he relaxed once more. Excusing himself from the couple, he walked out onto the balcony and leaned against the railing next to the woman...she didn't notice his presence.

"I thought you were going to jump for a second there."

Milana gasped and jumped to the side. Turning her head to look at the man who dared to talk to her, her eyes widened as she realized it was her host, Bruce Wayne.

"Oh, Mr. Wayne." She said quietly, bringing a hand up to her heart. "You startled me."

"I apologize." He replied, bowing his head towards her. "Was there a reason you were contemplating jumping from my roof?" He asked with a smirk, attempting to make light of the situation.

"I wasn't contemplating." She mumbled with a frown, looking back out over the skyline. "Just getting a thrill." She grinned tightly, glancing at Wayne briefly before looking back out.

"Thrill?" He questioned.

Milana turned her body to face him, leaning her hip against the railing, locking her fingers together over her stomach and resting her right elbow on top of the railing. She looked at Wayne with a straight face, but there was something downtrodden in her eyes and posture.

"I don't have the chance to get out as much as I used to." She said, glancing towards Nathan, making sure he didn't see her communicating with another man.

Bruce followed her line of vision to one of his lawyers that seemed to think he was better than all of the others. Hinkle? Pimply? Whatever the hell the prick's name was...he wasn't a favorite.

"A friend of yours?" He asked as the woman turned her head back to him.

Milana visibly winced before replying. "Unfortunately." She muttered, then rose her voice to normal levels. "He's my...fiancée." She was very reluctant to admit her relationship to the lawyer.

"You're not happy about it, I take it." Wayne stated, not asked.

"No, but I had no choice in the matter. Arranged marriage. Both of our parents decided it while we were still young." She explained with a sour expression. "Never knew he could be such a dick in adulthood." She mumbled, glancing back to the man of conversation.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Wayne responded. "At least you have someone."

She scoffed. "Yeah..."

Both saw that Nathan noticed where his fiancée was and had started making his way towards her. Milana turned back to Wayne with a helpless, almost desperate, look on her face.

"I didn't get your name. It only makes sense since you obviously know mine." Bruce grinned.

"Oh, of course. I'm Milana Dolak, head neurologist at Gotham General." She explained, extending her hand, throwing caution to the wind with what Nathan would do to her later.

"Ah, Doctor Dolak. It was a pleasure to finally meet you in person. I've heard many good things about you." Bruce said, taking her hand and kissing her knuckles.

"Really?" Milana seemed surprised at his praise.

"Oh, yes."

"Well, thank you...I guess." She bobbed her head shyly and took her hand back, not used to compliments.

Milana took another look into the room to check on Nathan's position. She saw that he was almost at the glass door, but was stopped momentarily by another older gentleman.

"You're name, Doctor, it's Czech, is it not?" Wayne asked her, trying to take her attention off of her fiancée. The man looked like he would strangle her once they were alone.

"Um, yes. Both my first and last name are of Czech origin." She replied, looking back to him. "And please, call me Milana."

"Milana." Wayne whispered, trying the name out on his tongue for the first time. "Then I must insist that you call me Bruce."

Milana felt a shiver run down her spine when he said her name. "Alright, then." She muttered, glancing around again.

Nathan was at the doorway. He managed to get away from the co-worker by giving the excuse that he needed to get some air by joining his fiancée on the balcony. He saw that Milana was conversing with Wayne, the Playboy. He didn't want _his_ woman anywhere near that man, fearful that he would take her away from him. If she ever left him, though, he would track her down and bring her back...the consequences would be lethal, too.

Walking onto the balcony, his eyes trained on Milana, he stepped right up to her side. "Milana, darling, I think we should be heading home. You have that consultation early in the morning." He said, wrapping his arm tightly around her waist, squeezing her hip.

Bruce saw Milana's eyes widen as her fiancée walked up to her, wrapping his arm round her. He then saw her wince ever so slightly as the lawyer noticeably squeezed her.

"I'm sorry to have kept you." Bruce said, nodding politely, but falsely, to the lawyer as he looked at Milana.

"Yes, well, we'll be leaving, now. Thank you for the invitation, Mr. Wayne. We had a lovely time." Nathan lied.

"Pleasure's all mine." Bruce also lied.

The two men stared at each other for a few moments. Milana noticed the killer look in Nathan's eyes, so she acted to get out of the situation. She placed her right hand on Nathan's chest.

"Let's just go home, Nathan." She said softly, then when he nodded and looked down to her, she looked back at Bruce as Nathan started to pull her along with him. "It was a nice evening, Mr. Way...Bruce." She grinned shortly before Nathan pulled her far enough away.

"That is a lovely gown, Milana." Bruce called, trying to get one last jib in.

Milana looked at him with a straight face. "I hate this gown." She said flatly before turning to look back at her fiancée.

Bruce watched them walk away, his eyes straying down Milana's back to where skin met cloth. Shaking his head, he looked back up to see the look on both of their faces. The Nathan fellow (Hinckley. That was man's last name) looked like he was going to beat Milana senseless, while Milana looked as if she'd just seen a ghost. Bruce stealthily followed the couple through the room and down the stairs.

As Nathan pulled Milana away, she knew something was going to happen, whether it was at home or before...or both, she didn't know.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Nathan growled as they walked off the balcony.

"He came up to me, Nathan, I didn't want to talk to him, but he kept asking me questions." She lied. It was good to actually talk to someone other than her colleagues, Nathan, and her parents, however rare that even was.

"You could have ignored him." He continued to growl lowly, pushing their way through the crowd. They were at the top of the stairs.

"I tried, god damnit!" She snapped softly.

At the bottom of the stairs, Nathan stopped, gripped tightly to Milana's upper arm, and spun her to face him. If looks could kill, Milana would be six feet under and decomposing.

"Don't you EVER snap at me again." Nathan snarled, raising his hand to backhand her.

Milana stood still, closing her eyes, and waiting for the sting of pain that normally followed one (or more) or Nathan's slaps.

"Mr. Hinckley!"

Milana's eyes snapped open and looked to the top of the stairs, where she saw Bruce Wayne.

_This is bad._ She thought, fear clearly written across her face. _Very bad. Not your fight, Bruce._

Nathan quickly lowered his hand and turned to face Wayne as he descended the stairs swiftly towards the couple.

"Mr. Wayne." Nathan said, keeping civility in his voice.

"Mr. Hinckley, I must insist on a meeting with you tomorrow afternoon. There is something I wish to discuss with you. It is of the utmost importance." Bruce said, trying to keep the anger out of his voice and off of his face. No woman ever needs to be slapped.

"Of course, Mr. Wayne. I will be there around two o'clock. Is that alright?" Nathan sneered.

"That is fine." Bruce answered, lowly.

"Very well, then. Good night, once again, Mr. Wayne." Nathan said, looking down his nose at the other man before turning himself and Milana to walk towards the exit.

As she walked away, Milana quickly looked over her shoulder to Bruce. In that swift look, she was able to send Bruce a strong message: she did not want to be alone with this man. The look on her face was one of fear.

As Nathan dragged Milana out of the loft to the elevator, his grip on her arm tightened dramatically. She wanted to throw his hand away from her, but knew that it would only end in a bruise on her body somewhere...or multiple bruises. She kept her tears in check, but could feel the burning in the back of her throat. She knew her tears would only make Nathan more arrogant than he already was. He saw it as a sign of weakness and he fed off of it.

Once in the elevator, Nathan still refused to let go of her arm, but he turned her to face him. He quickly brought his free hand, his right and dominant hand, up and punched Milana right below her left eye. She balled her hands into fists to keep from covering her face. This was also seen as weakness in Nathan's eyes.

"Be careful of the company you keep, Milana. I don't EVER want to see you in the presence of that man again. Am I understood?" He snarled.

"Of course, Nathan." She said through gritted teeth, blinking rapidly to keep her eyes from watering.

"Good." He then pulled her to him and roughly kissed her until the elevator slowed and reached the bottom floor.

Nathan refused to let go of her arm until they were back in their apartment, on the outskirts of Gotham's center city. Even getting in and out of their chauffeured car, he did not let go, pulling her along behind him.

* * *

**A/N: **_(FYI: Milana is pronounced 'Mee-la-nah' and Dolak is pronounced 'Dole-ack'.)_

_I was really nervous about posting this.  
I've been working on this since spring and I keep changing things, so I decided to post it before I fucked it up too bad. Please let me know what you think...but be gentle; flames just make me angry and I won't want to post anymore._


	2. Sick Of It All

**A/N: **_Wow! Such great reponses for the first chapter! Thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, alerted, and favored!_

_I meant to update this last week, but a friend of mine needed help with a movie he's filming, so I was schlepping equipment and being crew for him for a few days. I start classes again in two days, so my updates might be sporatic for a while until I get back into the swing of my schedule (I don't think this semester's going to be as hectic as last semester, though, thankfully)._

_Now that business is out of the way..._

* * *

At the door to their top floor apartment, Nathan fished around in his inside jacket pocket to get the key out. After unlocking and opening the door, he shoved Milana in, making her stumble. She stepped on the edge of her gown, rolled her ankle in the high-heeled shoes, and fell to the ground in a heap with an 'umph'.

"Get up." Nathan snarled as he closed the door and leaned against it, crossing his arms over his chest.

Milana glared at him, then slowly got up off the floor. She took a step back, away from him, then turned and stormed to her bedroom, which was to the right of the apartment.

Nathan and Milana may have been engaged, but Milana refused to sleep in the same bed as him. Each had their own room on opposite sides of the large apartment and neither cared what the other did in their bedroom. Milana knew that Nathan had other women, prostitutes mostly, in the apartment especially over the weekends, but as long as he didn't come to her, she didn't care. The less she saw of the man, the better. Because of the apartment layout, it wasn't as if she couldn't hear what went on in other rooms, anyway. Some of the "nightly visitors" even dared to talk to her on their way out in the morning.

Slamming the door to her bedroom, she flipped on the light switch, then took her shoes off and threw them across the room.

"Milana, get back here!" She heard Nathan yell from the other side of the door.

"Fuck you, Nathan." She said to the door, then darted over to lock it.

Just in time, too. As soon as it was locked, Nathan tried the handle. When he realized that it was locked, he pounded on the door yelling insults and cursing her until he was hoarse. He then turned away and went to the phone. He needed to call in a favor from a certain Doctor Jonathan Crane.

Milana backed away from the door, stared at it for a moment, then rolled her eyes as she began to strip out of her gown. Once naked, she pulled her hair out of its up-do, letting it fall down her back as she walked into her bathroom. Turning on the taps, she took a long, hot shower, not bothering to close the bathroom door.

While soaping up, Milana ran her hand over the area on her arm where Nathan had gripped her the entire night. She winced and looked down to see a bruise already starting to form. She cursed Nathan under her breath throughout the rest of her shower.

After stepping out of the shower and wrapping a towel around her body, Milana stood in front of her sink and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She not only saw the bruise on her arm, but the bruise forming on the left side of her face. She also saw the remnants of previous bruises on other parts of her body. She had bought make-up, which was strong enough to cover tattoos, that she used to cover her bruises. Now that she saw herself, she realized just how many she had.

Resting her hands on the edge of the sink, she let her head fall forward between her shoulders. With a deep sigh, she lifted her head to continue looking at herself. Off to the left of the mirror, which gave her a view through the door to her bedroom and across the room to the floor to ceiling sliding glass door, she saw movement on the balcony. Gasping and spinning around to look with her own eyes, she saw nothing out of the ordinary.

"I can't wait to get out of here. I'm going insane." She mumbled to her reflection.

Walking out of her bathroom and into the bedroom, Milana glanced around the room at her few boxed possessions. She planned on leaving Nathan in the morning and damned the consequences from him and her parents. She didn't know how else to get away from him without resorting to suicide, but she knew she wouldn't be able to do that.

Shaking her head, Milana walked over to her dresser and pulled out panties, a sports bra, a pair of dark blue mesh shorts, and a light blue tank top. Without removing the towel, she stepped into the panties and shorts, then pulled them up. Turning away from the window, Milana let the towel fall to the floor as she slipped on the sports bra, then pulled the tank top over her head.

"Milana, baby. I'm sorry. Will you please come out here and at least talk to me?" Nathan called through the door. He may have sounded sincere, but Milana knew better...he was only pretending so he could get something from her.

Humoring him, she walked to the door and unlocked it, slowly opening it far enough to stick her head out. Nathan stood a few yards away from the door, looking as innocent as he could. Milana wasn't fooled. She carefully took the few steps it took to get out of the door and closed it behind her; she didn't stray from the door.

"Baby, I'm so sorry for the way I acted tonight. I was out of line and didn't mean to be so...mean to you." Nathan attempted at an apology.

He was out of his tuxedo and was in a pair of jeans and a maroon V-neck T-shirt.

"Bullshit." Milana said under her breath.

"What?" Nathan asked, flatly.

"You're not sorry, Nathan, and we both know it." She began.

"Milana—"

"No! For once in your goddamn life, Nathan, listen to me." Her voice was rising. "I'm sick of it. I'm sick of you. I'm sick of this apartment. But most of all, I'm sick of having to LIVE with you in this apartment when I know you don't want me. I know you have whores, and lots of them, and I don't care, as long as they keep you away from me. I know you hate me and, quite frankly, I hate you, too. This whole engagement is a sham. We both know it. We stayed together this long because of our parents. Well, fuck them, Nathan! I'm packed and in the morning, I'm leaving. I'm not sure where I'm going, but I just want to get the hell out of here, away from this place, away from our fake happiness, and away from you!" She took a breath as she went for the handle on her bedroom door. Opening it, she looked back at Nathan with one last thought. "The apartment is paid up until the end of the month. You can have it and do whatever you want with it. Entertain your call girls for all I care, just leave me alone." She took off the diamond engagement ring and threw it at his feet, then turned and went into her room, slamming and locking the door behind her.

Nathan was too shocked by Milana's courage to stand up to him that he wasn't able to move towards her to beat her senseless for her outburst. He stared at the ring on the floor, his anger welling inside of him. Looking up, he saw that Milana had retreated to her room. Staring at the door briefly with a wild, maniacal look in his eyes, Nathan bent down to pick up the ring. Standing back up, he squeezed the ring in his palm before turning towards his own bedroom and picking up the phone to call one of his other women...maybe two. He shoved the ring in the nightstand drawer.

Minutes after hanging up the phone, there was a knock on the main door to the apartment.

"It's about fucking time, Doctor." He grumbled as he went to answer the door.

Milana walked about her room, looking for anything left that she wanted to take with her. She was proud of herself for finally standing up to Nathan, for getting some anger out. Seeing that she had everything that she wanted packed, she sat on the edge of her bed until she heard a knock on the apartment's main door.

Upon hearing the door open and Nathan's voice, Milana walked over to the window and slid the door open. Walking out onto the balcony, she rested her elbows on the railing and sighed.

_Probably one of his whores._ She thought. _You don't waste any time, do you, Nathan?_

She was contemplating another lean over the railing for the thrill when Nathan knocked on her bedroom door.

* * *

**A/N: **_Shorter chapter. I know. I found a better place to stop this time. :p_

_I just thought of something...I change POVs throughout some chapters. Should I put a break of some sort when I do, or is it understandable without that?_


	3. Attempts Failed

**A/N: **_Alrighty. Here you go. Sorry for my laziness._

_Chapter warning: violence, language, minor sex reference...you've been warned.

* * *

_"Milana, come out here. NOW!" He yelled to her.

Milana walked just inside the room, closing the sliding door behind her to discourage the neighbors from hearing, and yelled back: "Go to hell, Nathan!"

After three solid bangs, the door flew open and almost off its hinges, slamming into the wall. Nathan stormed in and grabbed Milana's arms before she even had a chance to do anything. She didn't even notice the other man with a sack over his head standing in the doorway. Releasing her left arm, he brought his fist back and punched her jaw as hard as he could, sending her to the ground with the force. He grinned smugly.

Once Milana hit the ground, she immediately flopped to her back and attempted to scuttle away, towards the balcony. She wasn't able to get far, however, before Nathan straddled her and sat on her hips, pinning her to the floor. She tried to buck him off, but he was just too heavy for her. When she saw him rise his fists to pummel her, she attempted to bring her own up to at least defend herself, but it didn't do a lot of good. Nathan punched around her flailing arms.

Milana could feel how worked up Nathan was getting; his erection was pressing into her stomach. He always got excited when he beat her.

/x\x/x\x/x\

Not caring that another person was in the room, Nathan moved his hands to her neck and gyrated against Milana. It had been too long since he's taken her like this. To him, this was the best feeling; it was better than oral sex or foreplay with his prostitutes. It only led to a good fuck for him. He reached for the button on his jeans with one hand, while still beating Milana with the other.

/x\x/x\x/x\

Crane, realizing how much beating the woman aroused Hinckley, was becoming disgusted with the man's actions. He even thought Hinckley was more messed up than he was. Not wanting to see what would happen next, he spoke up and put a halt in Hinckley's progress.

"Hinckley. That's enough. Get a hold of yourself, man. I am standing right here." Crane said, his voice garbled and scratchy behind his mask.

/x\x/x\x/x\

Three things happened after his statement: Nathan stopped punching Milana and stilled, Milana realized another person was in the room (who wasn't a whore), and Milana found the perfect opportunity to get Nathan off of her. Kicking her leg up, she twisted her body to the side to make Nathan fall off of her. She slid out from underneath him and got off the ground as fast as she could. Looking from Nathan to the masked man, Milana backed away, panting, and ran her back into the glass door.

"Let me fuck her one last time before you take care of her, Crane." Nathan said, turning to the masked man.

"I told you never to use my real name, asshole." Crane growled, which sounded even worse than it was because of the mask.

"I don't give a damn what I call you. She won't be around to tell anyone, anyway...not that the whole of Gotham doesn't know who you are by now." Nathan sneered. "You'll have to tell me one of these days how you got out of Arkham. Twice at that."

"Stop talking and get it over with before I lose my dinner, you sick bastard. You have to be more fucked up than me." Crane said, turning his head away.

Nathan turned back to Milana, whose eyes were wide with fear and the realization of what was going to happen to her after Nathan got through raping her (and it wouldn't have been for the first time). She had nowhere to move, so she prepared herself for the worst.

Nathan approached her and grabbed her biceps with both hands. He brought her towards him, then rammed her back into the glass, expecting it to hold. It did not hold, however, and Milana shattered the glass door, falling as she went through it. Milana landed on her back on the shards; glass also rained down on top of her. As she felt the glass slice and dig into her body, she screamed loudly in pain.

"Forget your fuck, Hinckley. With that scream, the cops'll be here before you're done." Crane said, pushing past Nathan, who stood in front of the doorframe.

Milana quickly got up, even though it was causing her great pain, and backed up towards the railing, stepping on glass as she went, but ignored the pain in fear of her life. Before the Crane man could even step foot through the door, she was against the metal railing.

With no other option open to her, Milana made her next move one that was spur of the moment: gripping the railing with her right hand, she swung herself up and over, giving herself momentum to swing into the downstairs neighbor's balcony. She misjudged the amount of space there was between the top of the railing and the bottom of the balcony and slammed her body, from her stomach down, into the concrete of the bottom of the balcony. She screamed through gritted teeth. Her feet were the only thing that hung below the edge.

"Milana!" She heard Nathan yell.

Ignoring Nathan, Milana quickly brought her left hand up to grab on to the bottom-most part of the railing, then let go with her right, making it harder for Nathan or Crane to grab a hold of her and pull her back up. She dropped so that now her waist was at the bottom of the balcony.

"Let go." Demanded a growling, male voice from below her.

"What?" She screeched out of surprise.

"Let go of the railing if you want to live to see another day."

"That's not oxymoronic or anything." She said sarcastically, glancing down and not seeing anything but street and sidewalk nine stories below her.

"Trust me. It's either me or them." He tried to persuade her.

"How can I trust you when I can't even see you?" She asked, attempting to glance down again. As she did so, she gasped as she saw Batman move to the edge of the balcony and look up at her.

"Drop. Now!" He growled.

"Oh, my god..." Milana muttered before looking up and catching the shadow of one of the men.

Deciding to take her chances with Batman, she swung herself as she let go, hoping beyond hope that he would not let her fall to her death. As Milana felt Batman's arms wrap around her back and pull her into the shadows under her balcony, she groaned in pain through clenched teeth. She was eye level with him. His arms dug the glass in her back even deeper, making her arch into him and her head fall back for a moment. Her vision swam and she lifted her head, putting her hands on his shoulders to try and steady herself since she felt like she was swaying.

"Th-thank you." She managed to say softly before she passed out in his arms from blood loss and pain. Her head fell forwards onto Batman's shoulder as her arms hung limply beside her.

/x\x/x\x/x\

Back up on the balcony, both Crane and Nathan ran over to the railing when they saw Milana's hands disappear from sight. Looking over the railing, they looked for some trace of her or where she went. They didn't see anything.

"Where'd she go? She couldn't have let go and fallen to the pavement. She doesn't have enough guts to take her own life." Nathan said, more to himself than Crane.

The two men heard sirens in the distance.

"I don't know and I don't care now." Crane said, taking off the mask and glaring at Nathan. "But next time, make sure you have her somewhere more secure before you contact me. And next time, keep your lust under control. You wasted time tonight."

With that, Crane turned and ran from the balcony and out of the apartment. Nathan stayed on the balcony, trying to come up with some story to tell the police for when they arrived at the apartment and saw the broken glass.

* * *

**A/N: **_There you go! Please review._


	4. An Argument Over Health

**A/N:**_ Another chapter of Doctor's Orders up for you. Enjoy! Oh, and I've decided to NOT seperate POVs...it'll just take away from the story. It's not that hard to follow (I normally start a different POV with the person's name anyway). In the future, I'll only do it if it's a big jump._

_Okay, now you can enjoy!_

_Chapter warning: one f-bomb is dropped...in front of Alfred! Gasp!_

/x\x/x\x/x\

When Milana awoke, it was with a gasp and a jump, as she snapped her eyes open. Panting to catch her breath, she glanced around with her right eye (since her left was swollen shut) to figure out where she was. The brightness of the room hurt her eye before it adjusted and she realized it was the sun from the opposite side of the room.

Milana was lying on her stomach with her head turned to the right, away from the sun. Her right arm was bent so her hand was by her face, her arm tucked close to her body. Her left arm was straight and tight against her side. She was lying on a stiff, low cot. It was at this point that she noticed that she was naked from the waist up, but she could feel some sort of cloth stuck on her back and a light sheet around her waist. She felt her shorts still on her hips.

While glancing across the room to the far wall, she saw many shelves of large volume books and normal, novel-sized books. Half of the shelves were empty and cardboard boxes were stacked around the room. She also saw multiple doors, leading her to believe that she was in a private library in someone's house.

She moved her arms so she would be able to push herself up. She needed to know where she was, so she could get out and save this person (these people?) from the wrath of Nathan when he found her. As she pushed up, she hissed as pain shot through her shoulder blades and down her back.

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you, Doctor." A male, English voice said to her left. "You'll pull out your stitches." He continued light-heartedly.

Milana gasped and fell back onto the cot, attempting to cover her breasts with her arms as best as she could before turning her head to the left to see who was in the room with her.

In a chair next to the cot, but not right against it, sat an older gentleman, possibly in his mid to late sixties, holding a book in his hands with his right foot on his left knee. He was dressed in a sharp suit and tie and had grayish-white hair.

"Who are you?" Milana asked, her voice hoarse from lack of use.

The man smiled. "I am Alfred, ma'am. Master Wayne's butler."

Milana digested this information slowly before she realized where she was.

"Are you telling me that I'm in Bruce Wayne's penthouse...again?" she asked, raising her head. With a nod from Alfred, she pulled the sheet around her hips up to her chest, flipped over, and started to sit up even though it hurt and pulled on her back much more than she anticipated. "I have to get out of here." She mumbled.

Alfred stood up quickly, placing the book on his chair where he was previously sitting. He walked over to Milana and gently put a hand on her shoulder when she was sitting up right. She flinched at his touch and he took his hand away, giving her a questioning look.

"I'm sorry." Milana muttered, looking down at her lap. "Some human contact makes me jumpy."

"It's quite alright, but you shouldn't be moving about like you are. You'll hurt yourself even more." He said, looking intently at her.

"I _am_ a doctor. I know." She said. "But I still have to leave. I'm not safe here. He'll find me and...I don't know what will happen. To me or you." Milana looked up at Alfred with worry in her eyes.

"I assure you, Milana, you are quite safe here."

Milana's head snapped around towards one of the doors to see Bruce Wayne standing in the frame with a cheeky grin on his handsome face.

"Bruce." Milana gasped, holding her arms over her chest tighter. "I appreciate your help, but I really have to get out of here."

Swinging her legs over the side of the cot, she went to stand up, sheet still held tightly to her chest. She carefully rose to her feet, but ended up swaying, her legs not wanting to hold her weight up.

Alfred was quick to move back to Milana. He reached out to grab her upper arm to help steady her. As he did so, she whimpered ever so quietly. He glanced at her face, but she was staring at the floor by her feet, not moving. Unfolding his fingers from around her arm, he saw the bruise marks from someone else's fingers. Alfred glanced up at Bruce to see an unreadable expression on his face, but saw that he was looking at the bruise.

Bruce looked at Milana's arms to see that the bruise where Alfred's hand was wasn't the only bruise she suffered. He was unable to see them last night when he brought her back, but now in the daylight and after some time for them to color, he could see them more clearly. His eyes ran over her arms and across her chest as far as the sheet would allow him. Raising his eyes, he saw more bruising on her neck and mostly on the left side of her face. Her whole cheek was swollen and discolored and her lip was split; her eye was swollen and colored as well. He realized that she probably didn't even know the damage done to her body.

"Please. Let me leave." Milana asked softly. If the room were not silent already, both Bruce and Alfred would have missed her words.

"You need to heal, Milana." Bruce said, taking slow steps towards her and Alfred.

Her head snapped towards him. "I can heal just fine on my own." She quipped back.

"Oh, yes. I can clearly see that." He replied, lifting his hand to indicate the left side of her face, stopping a few feet away from her.

"If I had the strength and energy right now, I'd slap you." Milana growled.

"I'd like to see you try." Bruce growled right back.

Milana pulled her arm out of Alfred's light grasp, readjusted the sheet so it was higher up on her chest, then lowered her head to glare at Bruce. "Keep it up, I just might find the strength to do so."

"Master Wayne, I suggest if you want Doctor Dolak to recover, you stop egging her on." Alfred attempted to step in.

Milana turned her head to him and nodded once before returning her glare to Bruce.

"It's not a matter of if _I_ want her to heal, Alfred. She'd be doing herself harm by not listening to us and resting." Bruce replied, not looking away from Milana.

"Oh, so this is my fault?" Milana asked, turning her glare into an angry expression. "I didn't ask to come here, Mr. Wayne. Why that fuckin' Batman brought me here, I have no idea, but it's obviously not the most ideal place. The last thing I need right now is some playboy billionaire to argue _my health_ over!" She yelled, hearing her voice bounced off the walls around them.

After yelling at Bruce, Milana felt light-headed. She let her eyes drop and closed them for a moment to try to regain her swimming vision. She felt herself sway again and Alfred's grasp was back on her arm, this time, both of his hands were on both of her arms. Opening her eyes, she looked back at Bruce, but without hostility. Milana knew she was going to pass out again, so she tried to get in one last remark.

"When I wake up, let me leave...Nathan will stop at-"

She didn't get to finish her sentence before her eyes rolled back into her head and she started to slump to the floor.

Alfred tightened his grip on her as one of his arms slid under hers as she started to fall. Within seconds, Bruce was on the other side of her, grabbing onto her arm before she hit the floor. The sheet she held up to conceal herself somehow managed to keep her covered (she must have tucked it under her armpits tightly when she readjusted it); only the top of one breast was exposed.

"I've got her Alfred." Bruce said, putting one arm behind her shoulders and the other under her knees. Lifting her up, he laid her carefully back on the cot on her side, then adjusted the sheet, and turned her onto her stomach, tilting her head so she wouldn't be suffocated by the pillow. He looked down at her as he stepped back.

"I hope you're happy, Master Wayne." Alfred said, also looking down at the doctor.

"What?" Bruce asked, turning to his butler.

"You wound her up. Made her lose more blood, sir." He pointed to Milana's back, where fresh blood was seeping through some of the bandages.

Bruce rolled his eyes. "Well, if I knew where to take her where she'd be safe, I would have taken her there." He said, turning and heading to the door. "Fix her bandages and let me know when she wakes up again."

"Yes, Master Wayne." Alfred replied quietly, as Bruce walked out of the library.

Looking back at Milana, Alfred sighed, then moved to the other side of the cot where he had placed extra medical supplies. He took the bandages off her back, checked which cuts were reopened, and stitched them. After re-bandaging her back, he pulled the sheet up to her shoulders and sat back in the chair to continue reading his book.

* * *

**A/N: **_There you go! Another chapter down and many more to go! Please review!_


	5. Post Argument Clarification

**A/N:**_ Ugh. Sorry for the sluggish updates. I got an idea for a RockNRolla (one of my favorite movies by Guy Ritchie and if you haven't seen it, I suggest it) fict and I had to at least start it before I forgot anything. It shouldn't take me another month for me to update again...no promises though._

_Also, I know that this chapter, the previous one, and the few following ones (one or two) might seem weird/strange, but work with me. It's not too unrealistic, right...?_

_Warning: one grumbled f-bomb._

/x\x/x\x/x\

Milana woke up yet again. This time, there was only a little light permeating through the room from a small lamp next to where Alfred sat. Glancing out of the window behind him, she saw that it was nighttime.

"How long have I been out?" Milana asked groggily.

Alfred jumped in his seat, almost dropping the book. He looked up at the doctor to see her blinking to clear her vision and bringing her hand up to rub her face.

"Oh, Doctor Dolak." He said, then looked at his watch. "You've been asleep for more than four hours."

"Have you been here this whole time?" She asked, feeling guilty...another reason why she wanted to get out of Bruce Wayne's penthouse. She didn't want to have to repay these two.

"Yes. I've been here to make sure you wake up alright." He replied.

"I'm sorry." Milana mumbled, turning her face into the pillow.

"There's no need for you to be sorry, Doctor." Alfred replied, getting up from the chair.

Milana turned her face to the butler. "Please, call me Milana."

Alfred smiled. "Milana."

She smiled in return, then said: "I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't really mean to go off on a wire like that."

"I don't think I'm the one you should be apologizing to. Though, I do think you made Master Wayne think about how he's going to treat you from now on." He grinned.

"I don't need to be treated. I just have to get out of here." Milana grumbled, her brow furrowing.

"Let me rephrase: the way Master Wayne speaks to you." Alfred said, coming to kneel next to the cot by her head. "How're you feeling?"

"A little sore, to be honest." Milana said softly.

"And your back?"

"Feels like it's on fire...I've had worse, though. Nothing's broken this time."

Alfred hummed in response, then stood up right. "Is there anything I can get you, Doctor?"

"No, I'm fine, thank you." She paused, lowering her voice. "Actually, could Bruce come in here? I think I'd like to apologize."

Alfred bowed his head, then walked to the door to exit the library before stepping back in. "I would have waited for him to come to me, but with your tongue, I think you can whip him into shape." He grinned then left the library again.

Milana grinned as she turned her head back into the pillow for a moment. After sighing deeply, she turned to her side and pushed herself up into a sitting position, wincing and gritting her teeth as she did so. Once sitting, she took the sheet from earlier and wrapped it around her chest like a strapless shirt, tucking the edge in at the top so she wouldn't have to hold it. Milana got off of the cot then and walked over to the window. Since it was dark outside, she used the window as a makeshift mirror to see the damage done to her body.

Letting her arms rest at her sides, Milana let her eyes start at her wrists. She saw bruises around the wrists and all the way up her arms. At her neck, she saw the hand bruises from where Nathan held her down. On her chest, were more bruises, but she wasn't sure how they got there...she remembered very little from the beating the night before. Not wanting to, but being brave, she looked at her face. The whole left side of her face was colored and swollen, being on the more dominant side of Nathan's fists, and her eye was still closed, only not as much as before; she still had trouble seeing out of it. She noticed her split lip and slight bruising on the right side of her face. Looking down to her feet, she lifted the sheet high enough to see her toes. She remembered running on the broken glass, but wondered why there wasn't much pain in her feet. _Just lucky, I guess_. She thought sardonically. She lowered the sheet back to the floor.

Turning her back to the window, she untucked the edge of the sheet and let the back fall away, holding the front over her chest, so she could see what happened. Looking over her shoulder to her reflection, Milana saw her whole back covered in bandages, from the top of her shorts to the back of her shoulders. In the places where she fell on the glass the hardest, there was blood seeping through the bandages. Sighing, she lifted her left hand to reach over her right shoulder and touched the bloodied spot on her shoulder blade, hissing in pain as she put pressure on it and from stretching the skin on her back.

"Fuck." She cursed, bringing her hand back down and turning to face the window again.

Milana scanned over her body once more, as she tucked the sheet around her again, then sighed. Seeing movement off to the right of her reflection, she looked at the movement through the glass. She watched as Bruce walked into the room, then paused, looking over at her. Sighing once again, she turned to face the master of the house...penthouse.

"Bruce." She said in her no nonsense, doctor voice.

"We're back to being informal, now, are we?" He asked with a clipped tone.

"Just shut up and listen to me." She snapped back.

Milana walked back over to the cot and sat on the edge. She waited for Bruce to move to sit in Alfred's chair. When he didn't move, she rolled her eyes and motioned to the chair with a flourish of her hand. When he did move, Milana's eyes never left him, then once he sat down, Milana continued to speak.

"Look, I appreciate what you've done for me, and I thank you for it." She held up her hand as Bruce tried to cut into her speech. "But I really have to get out of here. Nathan will stop at NOTHING to find me. The sooner I leave, the better." She took a breath. "Now, I'm sorry for all that I said to you last night. It's not like me to throw insults at people, but I'm not used to getting help from others. I only have one friend that I can trust completely. I'm normally on my own."

"Because of Nathan?" Bruce asked, sensing that her speech was over.

"Because of Nathan." She confirmed softly, frowning.

"Did he do this to you?" He asked, pretending not to know anything.

Milana didn't answer right away. She demurely looked down to her lap where her fingers hooked onto one another to prevent herself from fidgeting. Could she really trust Bruce Wayne enough to let him know of something that only one other person knew about?

"Milana." Bruce called softly, leaning forward in the chair.

When she looked up at him through her lashes, he felt a chill run down his spine and his heart beat faster for a split second.

"You can trust me. I want to help you. I will only go to the authorities if you tell me to." He said softly, but firmly. _I can handle him, too_. He thought.

Milana closed her eyes and slumped her shoulders. "Yes. Nathan did it...along with the help of a glass window to my back."

"A glass window?" Bruce questioned, tilting his head to the side a tiny bit.

She nodded once. "He shoved my back into my bedroom's sliding glass door. It didn't hold and I fell through and on it."

"That would explain the glass we pulled out of your back." He mumbled to himself, looking at the floor by Milana's feet.

"Yes. Now…can I use your phone?" She asked, bringing her right arm up to rub her left shoulder, where she covered one of her bigger bruises subconsciously.

"You do realize it's two o'clock in the morning, right?" Bruce asked, standing up.

"Well, no. I don't." Milana replied, looking up at him, then smirked slightly. "The person I'm going to call with be awake anyway."

"You're sure?"

"Yes. Definitely."

"I'll be right back, then."

Bruce walked to the door of the library. "Oh, Bruce?" He heard Milana ask softly, so he paused, steps from the door, and turned back to her.

Milana stood from the cot, crossing her arms over her stomach. "Do you have any old shirts or something that I could borrow? I mean, as much as I enjoy walking around in a bed sheet, it's just not warm enough." She blushed.

"I'll ask Alfred to look for something." He replied with a grin, then turned and walked out of the library.

/x\x/x\x/x\

**A/N:** _Review please? And my extreme graditude to all who have read, reviewed, favored, and alerted!_


	6. Hallways and Bathrooms

**A/N: **_Bah...yeah, still working on that RockNRolla fict and I started college classes again, but I'm only a part-time student, so hopefully I can write more (but it being my last semester, I get the tough classes now)._

_It's a really short chapter, but the next one will be longer. I thought this was as good a place to stop as any. I'd say this is a filler chapter more than anything._

_Lame title for this chapter...sorry. No warnings this time, though._

/X\X/X\X/X\

Milana sighed after Bruce left, then let herself sink into the chair Alfred stood watch over her in, not letting her back touch the chair. She saw that the book he was reading was still on the floor next to the chair, so she picked it up and read the title. _Arms and Armor_. It was an extremely thin book with no more than one hundred pages. It looked to be a child's book. Opening the book to a random page, Milana saw pictures of armor from the medieval period. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a disc case sitting on the floor. Closing the book, she leaned down to pick up the disc, feeling the bandages pull on her skin as she did so. Sitting up right after retrieving the disc, Milana groaned, then read the label on the case.

"_21st Century Collection of U.S. Army Research Laboratory Technical Reports—Munitions, Vehicles, Aircraft, War Games, Robotics, Exoskeleton, Biomechanics, Battlespace Visualization, Weapons, Kevlar_. Well, Alfred must really like his weapons...and military." She mumbled.

The door to the library opened, making Milana jump and almost drop the disc and book. Placing both back on the floor, she stood up, hunching a little as her back protested, and saw Bruce stroll back in, carrying a cordless phone.

Bruce saw Milana pause as she got up from the chair and hurried his steps towards her. He tossed the phone to the cot when he reached her side, and wrapped his hand around her upper arm. She froze, barely breathing, before he removed his hand from her arm.

"Sorry." Milana muttered quickly with her eyes closed. "Not used to helpful hands."

"Just...sit back down." Bruce said, afraid to touch her again.

Nodding, Milana slowly sat back down in the chair, sitting on the edge. Bruce sat on the edge of the cot and grabbed the phone from where he threw it. He held it out to Milana, who took it with a quiet "thank you".

"Whoever you call, don't tell them where you are...over the phone anyway. You never know when lines are tapped." Bruce said as Milana went to hit the first button.

Nodding, Milana hit the rest of the numbers to her friend's cell phone number.

As she dialed, Bruce looked out of the window behind her and saw the flicker of the newly restored Bat symbol as it lit up the clouds in the sky. Looking back at the doctor, he stood up when she brought the phone up to her ear.

"I'll come back later to see how you're doing." He said quickly, then turned and practically ran out of the library.

Milana watched him go as she listened to the ringing through the phone. She then stood up and walked back to the window. At the window, Molly, her best and only friend picked up her cell phone. Milana explained her situation, leaving out where she was and with who. She asked the nurse to bring her duffel bag of extra clothes to the hospital in the morning.

During her conversation, Milana saw (via the window) the door open once again. This time, Alfred stepped in, carrying a pair of sweatpants, a T-shirt, and a sweatshirt. Alfred lifted them to show her what he had, then placed them on the chair after she nodded. After deciding that she would stay the rest of the night where she was, the two women decided on a place where they would meet in the hospital the next morning. Milana then hung up the phone with a sigh. Walking over to the chair, she handed the phone to Alfred, who bowed his head shortly.

"Thank you, Alfred." She said softly as she looked down to the clothes piled on the chair.

"Of course, Doctor. Will there be anything else?" He asked, clasping his hands on the phone and holding it in front of him.

Milana hesitated a second.

"Umm...bathroom?" She asked.

Alfred grinned. "Certainly. Come with me." He took a few steps then turned around. "Do you need any help getting there?"

"No, I'm fine. Just walk slow." She gave a half grin.

Alfred nodded again before waiting for Milana to step up next to him after she picked up the clothes from the chair. He walked next to her to make sure she didn't fall.

When they reached the hallway, Milana almost gasped aloud at how enormous the rest of the penthouse was. It was a lot bigger when it wasn't crowded with partygoers. While admiring the penthouse, Milana still followed Alfred. She tried to remember the way back to the library.

"Has Bruce always lived here?" She couldn't stop herself from asking as she looked up to the high-vaulted ceiling.

"No, Wayne Manor is his home, but that was burned down by an old acquaintance. He tried to poison all of Gotham with toxic water, too." Alfred explained. "We should be back in Wayne Manor within a few days, so I apologize for the mess and boxes."

_Looks better than my place did last night. _Milana thought, then nodded distractedly. "Yes, I remember that. We had a lot of cases at Gotham General. I oversaw a lot of those cases, since they thought it was something attacking the nervous system. I was just glad Lieutenant...er, Commissioner Gordon got there when he did with that antidote." Her voice slowly lowered as she recalled the trying, frenzied, and panicked days. She also distinctly remembered when the Joker blew up the hospital and how hectic that was.

Not realizing that she stopped walking, Alfred gently took her elbow. She looked at him and smiled softly, sadly. They continued down the hall and rounded some more corners before stopping in front of a door. Pushing it open, Alfred enjoyed the widened eyes on the young woman as she took in the bathroom.

"Uh...thanks. I think I can make it back on my own." Milana said, making her eyes return to a normal size.

Alfred suppressed a smile as he bowed and walked back down the hall, leaving Milana to gawk and use the facilities.

Milana walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. Taking at least a dozen steps, she put the clothing on the toilet seat lid, then took a few steps back to admire the room. The white marble floor was cool against her feet as she stood still. The walls reached high to the ceiling...at least as high as the rest of the penthouse. To the right of the door was another door. Walking over to it, Milana pulled it open enough to let some light in and saw that it was a linen closet full of big, fluffy white towels. Closing the door, she turned to look across the room. The toilet was there along with a large round window about halfway up to the ceiling. A thin, gauzy material covered the window. The wall to her left contained the sink, made out of the same marble as the floor with gold faucets, a mirror above the sink, and the shower. The frosted glass door of the shower, flanked by the same glass windows, gave privacy and reached a few feet above Milana's head. The showerhead and knobs were the same gold as the sink faucet. Taking up almost the full wall to the right of Milana was a large bathtub that could fit three or four people. Walking over to the tub, Milana looked in. It was like a hot tub.

Sighing, Milana walked back over to the toilet and picked up the kelly green T-shirt. Holding it in front of her, she noticed that it was definitely a man's shirt; the v-neck, sleeve length, and cut of the shirt led her to believe that. Un-tucking the sheet and letting it fall to the floor, Milana slipped the shirt over her head first, then brought her right arm up to slip through the armhole, wincing as she stretched the skin held together by the bandages and stitches. She did the same with her left arm, growling through gritted teeth as she did so. She repeated the movements to put on the large, gray, zip up sweatshirt. Keeping her shorts on, Milana picked up the navy blue sweatpants and slid them on over the shorts.

After using the facilities, Milana grabbed the bed sheet and walked out of the bathroom to start her walk back to the library, where she could lay down again. She took her time walking back, glancing into rooms and out of windows as she passed.

/X\X/X\X/X\

**A/N:**_ That's all you get for now. Next chapter will have some action._

_Thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, favored, and alerted!_


	7. Bloody Wounds

**A/N:**_ Sorry for the delay. I have my normal excuses: film projects and hockey, mostly (having practice early in the morning wears me out for the rest of the day)...I was super pissed at my one prof for giving me a D on my project, so I didn't want to write anything for a while until I cooled down._

_Anywho, this one's nice and long.  
__  
No warnings here except for blood. Oh, that reminds me: I don't really know medical procedure (my cousin's the doctor in the family, not me), so I'm just taking an educated guess with how this should be treated...'cause I'm a little too lazy to look it up, anyway._

_Enjoy!_

/X\X/X\X/X\

Just as Milana was about to enter the library again, she heard a commotion further down the hall. Being curious, yet cautious, she walked towards the noise. Slowly gazing around the corner to where the voices and shuffling were coming from, Milana saw Bruce stumble into Alfred, blood dripping down his left arm and onto Alfred's crisp jacket, then down to the floor.

"Sir, what happened?" Alfred asked in concern.

"Ran into a little snag on the way back from the Precinct." He grumbled, attempting to lift himself away from Alfred.

Milana ducked back behind the corner and leaned lightly against the wall. _Why was Bruce going to the Precinct? Friend of Gordon's, maybe?_ Milana wondered. Quietly walking back to the previous corner, she walked back towards the men, slapping her feet on the floor, so she knew they heard her. As she walked, she quickly came up with a reason to be wandering the halls. Once rounding the corner she paused in mock shock as she saw the two men again. Bruce was standing on his own, but Alfred was holding onto his elbow.

"Oh, sorry. I think I got lost trying to get back to the library." Milana said softly, ducking her head to look embarrassed. When she looked up again, she saw the blood on Bruce's arm and widened her eyes in, again, mock surprise. "Bruce, what happened to your arm?"

Bruce looked down at his arm. "Oh, it was nothing. I just got mugged on my way back from the office."

"Why were you at your office...at three in the morning?" She asked after looking at a clock on the wall.

"There were some papers I left behind that I needed to get in order to have everything ready for a meeting later today."

He was lying through his teeth, but Bruce desperately hoped that she would accept it. Running into some of Crane's goons when he wasn't expecting them wasn't something he was willing to share with the woman...especially since she didn't know who he was.

He was on his way back to the Tumbler after delivering another rogue mobster to Gordon when four of Crane's men came out of the shadows and jumped him, catching him unawares. He was able to disengage two of them almost immediately. The second two took a little more time, then, while he was battling the two, another one came out of the shadows and stabbed his left arm, maneuvering in between the plates of armor. After swinging his left arm around to knock the attacker unconscious, he pulled the chef's knife out of his arm, then knocked the remaining two against a wall before running to the Tumbler, holding onto his arm to keep most of his blood in his body. When he got the Tumbler back to the hidden place under the storage bin, he quickly changed out of the Batsuit and into normal clothes, then drove as fast as he could (without getting caught by the police) back to his penthouse, blood gushing down his arm. By the time he got back, Bruce had lost so much blood, he was ready to pass out before he made it up to Alfred.

When he looked back at Milana, he saw disbelief flicker over her face briefly before settling into worry as her eyes focused solely on the blood on his arm.

"I could help you with that." She said quietly. "If you want, that is. I mean, I would be returning a favor."

Bruce looked to Alfred briefly; the two exchanging agreeing glances. Alfred took Bruce's right arm and put it over his shoulders. Bruce was pale and looked ready to pass out.

"Follow us, Doctor." Alfred said as he walked passed her, through the penthouse, and up the stairs to Bruce's bedroom.

Milana obediently followed behind the two, watching the blood drip from Bruce's fingers onto the floor. She worried her bottom lip between her teeth. If she didn't get to sew up his arm soon, he would be in some deep trouble.

Upon reaching Bruce's bed, Milana stood back while Alfred took Bruce's arm from around his shoulders and helped lower the younger man onto the bed. He lifted his feet up onto the bed, taking off his shoes. Milana moved over to Bruce's side and noticed that he started to shiver. She turned to Alfred.

"He's lost a lot of blood. I need lots of blankets, lots of warm water and rags, and whatever you used to stitch up my back. And I need it quickly." She said urgently, using her emergency doctor tone.

Alfred nodded, understanding the urgency, then hurriedly left the room to grab the items Milana asked for.

Looking back at Bruce, Milana kneeled down next to the low bed, grimacing at the pull of stitches as she used her arms on the edge to help lower herself. She looked over the rest of Bruce's body for any more signs of blood.

"Any more injuries?" She asked him.

"N-No." He stuttered from his chills.

Nodding, Milana tilted her head to glance at his face. His eyes were growing heavy, sweat was breaking out on his forehead, and he was breathing heavily. Shifting her eyes to the knife wound, she saw that his sleeve was going to be in her way.

"I'm going to have to cut your jacket and shirt. Hope you don't mind." She said, then mumbled: "Not that you can't afford others, you rich bastard."

"Heard that." Bruce muttered.

Milana's head snapped up to look at him with wide eyes, then, once she saw the lazy grin on his lips, she lowered her head again and blushed slightly. She kept her eyes focused on the wound.

Seconds later, Alfred swiftly walked back into the room juggling the medical supplies on one arm and carrying a large bowl of warm water in the other. He walked over to where Milana was kneeling and placed everything on the edge of the bed in front of her, near Bruce's hip, then the water on the floor next to her.

Milana nodded her head in thanks, then looked back up to Alfred.

"He's going to need some cool water, too. He's getting feverish." She said, then picked up a pair of scissors.

Alfred nodded, then left the room once more to get a bowl of cool water and another washcloth. Milana watched him walk out before turning her attention back to Bruce.

"I'm going to try to make this as painless as possible. But no promises." She said, gradually putting pressure on his arm to see how much she could get away with before he felt pain.

Bruce nodded and closed his eyes before hissing in pain as Milana shifted his arm to get better access to the wound.

"Bruce, come on. Open your eyes. You have to stay with me for at least a few more minutes." She said, glancing up at him as she pulled the cloth of the sleeves away from his arm slowly to make sure it wasn't sticking to him.

Bruce turned his head to Milana and tried to focus on her face. He took in her expression and realized that she was getting down to business. Her brow was furrowed and her eyes were glued to his arm. A frown pulled down the corners of her full, pink lips and he caught himself thinking that she would look much lovelier if she smiled more. He also saw that she was wearing his clothes; he could see the green shirt peeking out from beyond the zipper of the sweatshirt.

"You're wearing my clothes." He said, groggily.

"I didn't get to pick them out. I'm just wearing what Alfred gave me." She replied, still focused on his arm.

"I didn't say that was a bad thing." He muttered.

Milana shook her head, grinning slightly. "I'm going to cut your sleeves off. Let me know if you feel pain."

She carefully took some of the fabric in between the scissors and cut, glancing up at Bruce's face as she did so to judge his reaction. Not seeing him react, she continued to cut around his arm, making her movements as slow as possible. She then cut down his arm so she wouldn't have to slide the material over the wound. When she pulled the fabric away from his arm, she saw all of the damage that was done.

The wound was deep and long. It was still bleeding, but not as heavily as it probably was. A lot of dried blood was around the wound and down his arm.

Milana put the shredded cloth down on the floor next to her, away from the bowl of water. After pushing up her sleeves, she reached out and put her fingers lightly next to the wound. Bruce took a sharp intake of breath and hissed through his teeth, snapping his eyes open to look down. He made a fist with both hands. Milana saw that his fist was making the wound bleed more, so she quickly took her hands away and attempted to unfurl his fingers with her own.

"Don't squeeze your fist. You're making it worse." She said gently. "If you need to, hold onto my hand." Bruce slowly released his fist and lightly grasped her fingers. Milana grinned at him, then looked back at his arm. With her free hand, she reached out to touch the skin around the wound.

"I'm going to put some pressure on the wound. I have to see how deep it is and how much damage there is, alright?" She explained.

She went to place her thumb on one side of the wound and the rest of her fingers on the other side to spread the wound apart more. The squeezing on her fingers made her stop and look back to Bruce.

"Wait for Alfred." He gasped out. "More hands."

"Of course." Milana replied.

She readjusted her grip on Bruce's hand and watched his face carefully as they waited. As they waited for a short time, Milana glanced down at Bruce's arm to see more than just the fresh wound. There were old scars and new scars, bruises; some looked so fresh that they could have happened a day or two ago. Milana frowned down at his arm. After waiting for a few minutes, Alfred swiftly walked back in through the door.

"Alfred, I'm going to need your help, please." Milana said after he set the cool water bowl on the nightstand.

"Certainly. What do you need?" Alfred asked.

"Hold onto his hand and don't let him make a fist." She explained. "And try to keep him cool."

Milana transferred Bruce's hand to Alfred, then took the washcloth from on the bed and dipped it in the warm water bowl. While it was soaking, she put her hands on either side of the wound and pulled it apart as gently as she could. Bruce gritted his teeth in pain and threw his head back into the pillow as his torso lifted up. Milana quickly made her assessment, then took her hands away.

"The knife didn't hit any nerves or do much muscle damage." She said more to herself than the other two in the room.

Taking the washcloth out of the bowl, she brought it up and let most of the water drip onto Bruce's arm to wash away some of the blood. She watched the blood and water drip onto the floor.

"Hope you don't like this rug all that much. It's going to be covered in blood by the time we're done here." She mumbled again.

"It's just a rug." Bruce slurred.

"Good."

Once the wound was as flushed out as possible, Milana grabbed the needle and dissolving thread. After threading the needle, she rubbed some of the alcohol on it, then stuck it in the wound to make some internal stitches.

Bruce yelled and convulsed again before passing out.

_It's better that way._ Milana thought and continued to sew quickly to keep most of the blood in his body.

"Is he alright?" Alfred asked, looking at his charge with worry.

"He should be. Just passed out. It's better for him. That way he won't have to suffer through the pain I'm giving him right now." Milana explained. "I have to put stitches beneath the surface to make sure there's no permanent muscle damage."

Alfred nodded as Milana kept sewing. After she finished closing the wound, she took the washcloth again and ran it over the newly sewn together skin, then put some antiseptic on it before wrapping the bandage around his arm.

Once she was finished, she turned to Alfred as she wiped her hands on a spare towel. "He should be okay as long as he doesn't use the arm too much. If the stitches come out, he could bleed even more. I recommend he stay calm and quiet for at least two days...if that's at all possible with a billionaire playboy like him." She said, looking at Bruce's face. Even unconscious, he looked pained. "I'd like to see him later today at the hospital just to make sure there's no infection and I can dress it better. No offence, but your materials aren't up to snuff."

"No offence taken." Alfred replied.

Milana started to gather up the used and unused materials. Alfred helped her, then offered to take everything from her.

"I'll just head on back to the library. Try to get a few hours of sleep before heading off to work." She said, lifting herself off the floor and backing away from Bruce.

"Of course. Is there any specific time you would like to be woken up?" Alfred asked, standing next to Milana, his arms full of used and unused medical supplies.

"Yes. Five-thirty, please." She replied, starting to walk out of Bruce's bedroom.

Alfred looked at the clock on Bruce's nightstand. "But that only gives you two hours." He said, turning and following her.

"I'll be fine. I'm a doctor. I'm used to long nights." She grinned.

He gave her a disbelieving look, but continued to follow her after nodding anyway. Just outside the bedroom, he placed the supplies down before turning to Milana.

"Would you like me to show you back to the library?" He smirked.

"Oh. Yes. Thank you." She said, looking down at her feet, pretending to look embarrassed.

Alfred nodded, then lead Milana back to the library. Once in the library, Milana walked over to the cot and took off the sweatshirt. Alfred stood by the door, ready to turn off the light when she was settled. Milana set the sweatshirt on the back of the chair next to the cot. She then moved back to the cot to lie down carefully on her side, facing the door, as she pulled the light sheet up to her neck. Sighing, Milana let her eyes close for a few seconds then looked back to Alfred.

"Settled?" He asked.

"Yes." She answered softly.

Flicking off the lights, Alfred turned back towards the door and paused. "Would you like me to call a taxi to take you to the hospital?" He asked into the darkness.

"Yes, that would be great." She muttered. "Thank you, Alfred."

"You're welcome, Doctor." Alfred said politely. "Sleep well." He turned back to the doorway and walked through, closing the door behind him.

Milana sighed once more, then flipped onto her other side, so she was able to stare out of the large windows. Sleep eluded her for another hour.

* * *

**A/N: **_There you go! Again, sorry for the delay._

_Thank you to all who have read, reviewed, favored, and alerted!_


	8. Arriving at the Hospital

**A/N:**_ Ack! Sorry for the friggin' long delay. Life got in the way (and writing my RockNRolla fict); the past month has been hell for me around here..._

_Anyway, here's the chapter. No warnings._

_

* * *

_Milana awoke to a slight shaking of her shoulder. Opening her eye, since the left was still swollen, she focused on Alfred, kneeling next to the cot.

"It's five-thirty, Doctor." He said softly, removing his hand from her shoulder. "There's a taxi in front of the building, ready to take you to the hospital when you're ready."

Milana nodded, then sat up on the cot.

"Would you like anything to eat or drink before you go?" Alfred asked, standing up.

"No, I'm fine, thanks." She replied, groggily. "I should just get out of here as fast as I can to keep both you and Bruce out of my affairs."

When she looked up to Alfred, she could tell he wanted to say something, but forced himself to bite his tongue. Swinging her legs over the side of the cot, Milana slowly got to her feet. Alfred grabbed the discarded sweatshirt from the night before and handed it to her. She nodded to him and slid it onto her shoulders, wincing as the bandages pulled on her skin.

"May I check on Bruce before I leave?" She asked hesitantly.

"Certainly." Alfred nodded his head, then lead the way through the door and to Bruce's bedroom.

In the bedroom, Milana saw that Bruce had moved around a lot in the two hours she was away. The bed sheets were in disarray and twisted all around his body. His arm, however, still hung over the side of the bed. Both Milana and Alfred walked over to the bed. Milana bent over and looked at the wound. She ran her fingers over it lightly, hearing Bruce take a sharp intake of breath in his sleep. Pulling her hand back, she stood up straight and glanced at Alfred briefly.

"I'd still like him to come to the hospital some time today. I want to make sure that it's not infected and all that good stuff." Milana said quietly.

"I will make sure he stops by at some point. I couldn't tell you when, though."

"I'll be there all day, so as long as he shows up, I don't care when." She replied.

Alfred nodded. "Shall I show you out?"

Milana nodded this time and Alfred led the way back out of the bedroom, through the penthouse, down the elevator and out of the front door. Standing just outside of the main door, Milana turned to Alfred.

"Thank you, Alfred. For all that you and Bruce had done last night. Even though it wasn't my choice to come here, no offense, I appreciate your help." Milana said sincerely.

"You're welcome, Milana." Alfred smiled. "If you ever need our help again, please let us know. You can now have two more people you can trust. Oh, and the taxi is paid for."

Milana smiled tightly and nodded. "Thank you." She whispered, then walked down the stairs to the awaiting yellow cab.

Getting into the back of the taxi, she looked out the back window as they pulled away from the curb. Sighing, she sank into the seat, being careful of her back, and contemplated what lie to tell her co-workers to explain what happened to her.

When the taxi pulled up to the hospital, Milana thanked the driver then quickly got out. She walked into the hospital and to the designated meeting place in the doctor's locker room. Trying to encounter as few people as possible, Milana quickly made her way to the locker room, being sure to keep any stray person around to her right side. Once she reached the room, she closed the door and leaned against it, sighing, before seeing Molly on the far side of the room, near the doctor's locker. When Molly saw Milana, she rushed over to her and pulled her into a tight hug. Milana winced and sucked in a sharp breath as the nurse unknowingly hit her wounded back.

"Oh, Milana. I'm so sorry you have to go through all this shit Nathan's putting you through." Molly said through her anger and attempt to squash the release of tears.

"It's okay, Molly. I'm okay. I just can't go back to him. He tried to kill me." Milana replied.

"You have to tell me everything that happened last night." Molly said relinquishing her hold on her slightly younger friend.

"I'd like to change first." Milana said with a tight smile as she looked down at the clothes given to her by Bruce.

"Where'd you get those clothes?"

"I'll tell you everything once I change."

After Milana took her overnight bag from Molly and she put on her bra and own clothes, she came back to her locker and told her the story of everything she remembered of the night before, swearing her friend to secrecy.

"Bruce Wayne's penthouse! Milana, are you insane?" Molly exclaimed quietly.

"It's not like I had a choice! That Batman fellow took me there after I passed out. I couldn't exactly tell him to take me to your place." Milana defended. "Anyway, Wayne was pleasant after I yelled at him." She smirked.

"But you're okay now, yeah?"

"As long as you help me with these bandages, I'll be fine." Milana said, scratching her back at the edge of a bandage.

Molly directed Milana to take off her shirt and bra so they could change the bandages.

"How does the stitching look?" Milana asked.

"It's fairly good for someone who doesn't have extensive medical training." Molly replied as she wrapped gauzy bandages around Milana's torso.

Milana nodded and waited patiently for Molly to finish with the bandaging. Once they were done, Molly reminded Milana of her consultation, which was to take place later that morning. After thanking her, Milana took her tattoo covering make-up out of the duffel bag to cover any bruises that were visible. She grabbed an extra pair of white sneakers from the bottom of her locker, then left the locker room to check on some post-op and other patients.

On her way to the conference room for her consultation, Milana ran into one of her colleagues who was also helping with the consultation. Doctor Blake Christiansen was the typical tall, dark, and handsome man with sophisticated-looking glasses perched on his nose.

"Good morning, Milana." He said with a smile as he approached her from the opposite end of the hallway. The smile then faded when he saw her face. "Or not so good, from the looks of it."

"Oh, Blake. It's nothing. I stupidly ran into the sliding glass door to my balcony last night." She lied, waving her hand as if it didn't matter.

"Hmm. You just better watch yourself. Those doors come out of nowhere." He smirked, wiggling his eyebrows and moving into the conference room.

Milana gave a fake smile, then dropped it and rolled her eyes when Blake turned his back to her. She followed him into the room, shook hands with the patient, and sat down to get on with the meeting.

Once the consultation was over, Blake and Milana walked out together.

"Would you like to grab a cup of coffee, Milana. Looks like you could use one." Blake joked.

"No, thank you. I have a lot of paperwork to look over." She politely declined with a small smile. "Maybe some other time."

It was not the first time she had turned him down. Previously, it was because she was never sure if Nathan was lurking around a corner to pull her away from talking to another man, even if he was her colleague. Now, she did it to protect him if Nathan really _was_ lurking about.

"Alright. I'll hold you to it." Blake promised, pointing to her with a grin as he walked towards the elevators.

Milana sighed as she walked in the opposite direction to the nurse's station. She picked up the file of a patient from post-op. As she flipped through the file, checking on the vital statistics and such, Molly came up to her, handing her a cup of tea and a croissant.

"Thanks, Molly. I haven't eaten since...shit. I don't even remember when." Milana said, taking a bite as she set the file down on the counter in front of her.

"I figured as much. That fiancée of yours-"

"_Ex_-fiancée, Molly." Milana interjected, frowning.

"Right, sorry. That...ex-fiancée of yours never let you eat much." Molly finished.

Milana nodded, not ready to begin a conversation on the sad excuse for a man who caused her so much pain in so many ways.

Molly cleared her throat. "Here's another post-op for you. And a pre-op kid who will need some TLC before his operation." She handed Milana two different colored folders.

Milana nodded again with a sigh. Kids were always the hardest to explain things to.

Molly walked away to help another nurse check on patients. Milana looked over the new files while she finished her croissant, taking occasional sips of tea.

"Doctor Dolak, this gentleman has asked to see you...and only you." One of the new nurses from out of town said, walking up to Milana...with Bruce Wayne following behind her.

* * *

**A/N: **_Meh, a little short. Sorry, but it was a good place to stop. Next one should be a little longer at least._

_Thanks to all who've read, reviewed, favored, and alerted!  
_


	9. Check Up

**A/N: **_Well, I don't have an excuse for not updating this time...it's a reason: I was waiting for more reviews. I only got one. I don't know how I'm doing and if I'm keeping your interest or not if you don't tell me. If no one's reading this, I'll stop and take it off the site. I don't want to do that, but if no one's reading, why keep it around._

_Throw me a bone here, people! Please!_

_Only one warning: muttered f-bomb._

* * *

Milana was about to take a drink of her tea when she looked up to see Bruce and the nurse. He was holding his left arm at a ninety-degree angle, close to his chest. _His arm must be bothering him_. Milana thought as she watched him walk up to her. His hair was slicked back and he was wearing a dark blue suit with a light blue tie.

"Oh?...Okay, thank you, Gabby." Milana said to the nurse, who-not so subtly-looked Bruce up and down before walking away, adding a little extra sway to her hips.

Bruce noticed and raised an eyebrow at Milana, who rolled her eyes and mouthed 'playboy'.

"Doctor Dolak, I've heard a lot about you." Bruce said, pretending as if he'd never met Milana before. He extended his hand for a handshake. "I'm Bruce Wayne. I'd like to speak to you about setting up a consultation for a friend of mine."

"Of course, Mr. Wayne." She falsely smiled, shaking his hand. "If you'll follow me, we can chat in my office. I just have to stop in the supply room quickly on the way."

Milana turned, picking up the other folder, and walked around the nurse's station with Bruce behind her (leaving her tea behind). Two doors away from the station, Milana stopped.

"I just have to duck in here quick, then we can continue to my office." She explained, opening the door to a supply closet. "Wait here. I'll just be a second." She then walked into the closet and pulled out a few rolls of bandages, antiseptic solution, and a stitching kit. She then walked back out into the hall and motioned for Bruce to continue following her.

At the far end of the hall, right before the emergency staircase, was Milana's office. The plaque on her wooden door read: _Dr. Milana Dolak, Head of Neurology_. There was no window from her office to the hallway. Opening the door, she motioned for Bruce to enter first, then closed the door behind her as she followed him in. The inside of her office was spacious. Along the far wall were windows from a fourth of the way up the wall to the ceiling. Her dark red-stained wooden desk sat to the left of the door with a matching wooden bookshelf behind it that housed books and pictures. Opposite the desk were two chairs for clients. Along the wall to the right of the door were her framed certificates and degrees, which were re-printed and re-signed after the Joker got through with the hospital.

"I'm actually very surprised to see you here." Milana said walking behind her desk to set down the files and supplies. "Didn't think you'd follow my orders."

"I thought about it and I figured that I need to have this fixed as soon as possible." He grinned, standing behind the guest chairs and glancing around the office.

"Well, have a seat and take off your jacket. If you can't roll your sleeve up that high, I suggest taking off your shirt as well." Milana ordered, using her doctor tone of voice.

She then sat in the high-backed chair, behind her desk, and picked up the file on the child. She studied it while Bruce divested himself of his clothing.

Bruce stood behind a client chair for another moment, then slowly took off his jacket, without trying to wince. Once off, he tossed it over the back of the chair closest to the window. He unbuttoned the cuff of his left arm and started rolling it up. He was able to get it past his elbow, but unable to roll it farther because of the wound (and his muscles) without bringing about even more pain. He sighed, then lowered the sleeve. He really didn't want to expose all of his bruising to Milana, being that she didn't know of his alter ego and she would fuss (considering she was a doctor), but he had no other choice.

Milana glanced up from the file at Bruce's sigh. He was rolling his sleeve back down and going to loosen his tie.

"You know, it really shouldn't take you this long to expose an arm." She said, looking back at the file, suppressing a smirk.

"Well, I thought my sleeve would go up that high. Apparently, it won't." Bruce replied through gritted teeth.

"Poor thing." Milana muttered, lifting a sheet of paper in the file.

Bruce rolled his eyes, then loosened his tie enough so that he could lift it over his head, then tossed that over the back of the chair with his jacket. He unbuttoned his crisp, white dress shirt then carefully slid his left arm out. The shirt fell off of his shoulder, but he pulled it close to his body quickly before Milana could see any of his bruises. He sat in the chair not containing his clothes, and attempted to wait patiently for Milana's help.

"Ready now?" Milana asked, not looking up from the file. She lowered the paper, then closed the file, looking up at Bruce to see him nod once. Placing the file back on her desk, she stood, collected the medical supplies and shoved them across the desk so she could easily reach them from the other side. She walked around her desk, going towards the window to take a look out, then continued around to Bruce. She meant to keep walking until she reached his side, but she paused behind him, seeing a very large, very nasty looking bruise on the lower part of his left shoulder blade.

"Jesus, Bruce." She said softly. "How'd this happen?" She ran her fingers lightly over the bruise, feeling him shiver and suck in a breath as she did so.

"Polo." Bruce lied quickly, not realizing there was a bruise there.

"Polo?" Milana questioned, looking at him skeptically.

"Yes, polo." Bruce replied defensively, turning his head to glare at her out of the corner of his eye. "Or from the mugging, I don't know."

"You don't play polo."

"I don't play polo? How would you know?"

"Are you a parrot?" Milana muttered, then raised her voice. "Just because you're a playboy billionaire, does not mean that you're a polo-playing playboy billionaire. You don't have the right body build for polo. You are too well toned."

After realizing what she said, Milana turned her head to the side with a muttered "fuck". _I didn't mean for that to come out of my mouth and I was _not_ eying his body._ She thought.

Bruce raised an eyebrow and turned in the chair to look at Milana fully. He smirked as he realized that she didn't want to say that...out loud, anyway.

"And you know many polo-playing playboy billionaires, do you?" He asked, still smirking.

"Well, no. But I know a polo player. He was a patient of mine a few years ago." She replied, finally able to look at him. "Messed up his back falling off his horse."

Bruce grunted. "Well, I do...occasionally. Now are you going to look at my arm or stare at my back all day because I have other things to do."

"And I don't?" She scoffed. "I probably do more work in one day than you do in a week, Playboy." She walked to his side and kneeled to remove the bandages from his arm.

Bruce was about to argue, but he understood her point; she had to deal with a lot more stress than he did. How she could handle patients, patient's families, co-workers and colleagues, the anxiety, the restless nights, et cetera, he wouldn't understand. It's the life of a doctor, not the life of a billionaire. Not even the life of a billionaire who has an alter-ego that fights crime.

Milana needed to be up higher from the ground, so after taking off the bandages, she stood and threw them in the trashcan next to her desk. She went behind her desk to the bookshelf and grabbed the stepstool sitting next to it. Bringing it back to Bruce, she set it next to the chair and sat on it.

"Put your arm on the armrest and try not to move." Milana instructed.

Bruce did as instructed and watched as the doctor did her work on his arm.

Milana took a look at the work she had done the previous night. It looked like it had held overnight. Putting a hand on either side of the wound, she gently pulled it apart to see if the stitching would stay in place and no blood would leak out. Satisfied that she only saw a few drops of blood in random places, she let the skin relax as she took one hand away to reach for the antiseptic solution. She felt the muscles in Bruce's arm relax as she let go.

"This is going to sting. A lot." Milana warned as she took the cap off the antiseptic bottle and dumped some on a bit of cloth from some bandages.

Bruce nodded when she looked up and held her gaze; he couldn't compel himself to look anywhere else. He didn't see her hand move back to him and press the cloth onto the wound. Milana grabbed his arm by the elbow and held him still and tight. He hissed and jerked forward in his chair, then growled through his teeth as the stinging sensation subsided.

"Damn, woman! Are you a sadist?" He asked, looking back at Milana and frowning.

Milana chuckled. "Maybe a little bit." She paused. "I told you it would sting."

"Yeah, thanks." He grumbled sarcastically.

Milana swapped the antiseptic for the roll of bandages and started to rewrap Bruce's arm. "Okay, this looks pretty good. Change the bandages everyday and if it gets wet. I'm sure Alfred will be willing to help if you need it. I'd like you to come back here in about a week so I can make sure that it's healing as well as it looks like it will." She put all of the medical supplies back on her desk, then looked back at Bruce to see him staring at his arm. "You'll live, is what I'm saying."

Bruce glanced up at Milana and grinned slightly. Milana gave a lopsided grin back then stood and moved the stepstool back behind her desk. "You can put your shirt and jacket back on."

Bruce nodded, even though Milana wasn't looking his way (she was cleaning up her desk), then stood from the chair and quickly put his shirt back on before she saw any more bruises. He took his tie off the chair, looped it around his neck, and tightened it.

"Hmm. Wait here a moment. I'll be right back." Milana said, then left her office.

Picking up his jacket, Bruce threw that on his person as well, then walked over to the window and looked out as he buttoned it up. The window was a view of the back parking lot and an area designated for smokers. There was a spot with tables and chairs for employee breaks. He wondered why Milana looked out earlier, then wondered if Hinckley parked back here. He would be able to easily see Milana's office from the lot.

Milana walked back into her office then. She saw Bruce at the window and watched him for a moment before he turned around at the click of the door closing. Milana moved back into action, walking towards him.

"Here." She handed him a small jar with a jelly-type substance in it. "Put this on your bruise. I doubt you've put anything on it, but this should help with the swelling and bring the color back to normal."

"Thank you." He said softly, taking the jar from her.

"You're welcome." She replied. "I'm sorry to do this, but I have to kick you out of here. I have a patient whose surgery is being bumped up and I have yet to go see him."

"Of course. Don't let me keep you from your duties." Bruce replied.

Milana nodded and the two walked back towards her door. She picked up the file on the child on their way out. Once outside, Milana turned to Bruce.

"Well, Mr. Wayne, I'm sure we'll be able to help your friend out. It was a pleasure meeting you, but I really must go." She said, extending her hand to him.

Shaking her hand, Bruce grinned. "The pleasure was all mine."

Milana nodded. "I trust you can find your way out?"

"Yes, thank you."

"Okay, sorry to run."

Milana turned and hurried down the hall to her patient. Bruce watched her go and found that his eyes traveled to the edge of her white doctor's coat and appreciated how it billowed out behind her. It reminded him of his own cape. He saw her stop outside of a room at the far end of the hall.

* * *

**A/N: **_I realize that's an awkward place to stop, but I couldn't find a better spot without making it longer than I wanted._


	10. Fired

**A/N: **_Have you seen the teaser trailer for **The Dark Knight Rises**? If you haven't, you should because it looks like it's going to be awesome!_

_Anyway, down to business: I realized that I messed up my timeline a bit. I think I have it as a total of three days when it should only be two. So to clarify, all this stuff in this chapter takes place the day after the party, about 24 hours._

_Again, I'm not a doctor, so I can't really relate to the first part of this chapter...and I'm not entirely happy with it (the continued hospital scene, that is). I think it would have done better connected to the end of the previous chapter, but oh well, it's here now._

_Enjoy!  
_

* * *

Watching her profile, Bruce could see that Milana looked into the room with a briefly troubled look, then looked down at the file still held in her hands, taking a deep breath. She looked back up, plastered on a smile, and walked into the room.

Bruce walked down the hall to the room that Milana entered. He stood to the side of the large window that looked into the room and observed Milana. _What am I still doing here?_ He thought, stepping back to lean against the wall next to the window. He couldn't bring himself to leave yet, though. Slipping his hand into his pocket, he felt the small, folded piece of paper he meant to give the doctor before they parted ways.

He didn't know how long he was standing there before he decided to look back into the room. When he did, Bruce saw that Milana was hugging the little boy who was about to go into surgery, then she stood and patted his knee before walking out of the room, her head bowed.

After walking through the door and closing it behind her, Milana leaned against it and brought a hand up to cover her mouth. She repressed a sob as the child's condition sank in. Oh, yes, he would make it out of surgery, but, in her eyes, he was far too young to be having spinal surgery and the rest of his life would be hard. It was always hard for her to work on children; had been hard even before medical school.

Bruce looked for anyone lurking around before speaking to her. "Milana." He called softly.

Her head whipped up and her hand dropped down to her side. She sniffled, then looked around for co-workers. "Bruce? What the hell are you still doing here?" She walked towards him.

"I forgot to give you this before you left." He pulled the folded paper out of his pocket and handed it to her. "It's my address in the Palisades. I'm moving back into Wayne Manor tomorrow. If you need me for anything, I'm there. I wrote the phone number down as well." He paused. "Now that you're with your friend, I doubt you'll need me, but it never hurts to have someone else there."

Milana stared at him for a moment, calculating before shaking her head. "Thank you, Bruce." She said quietly.

Bruce nodded. "I have to get going." He grinned, then turned and left Milana standing in the hall.

Milana watched Bruce walk away. When he was out of her sight, she shoved the paper into her breast pocket, then turned to head back to her office.

Bruce rode the elevator down to the ground floor, watching the lights above the doors as he thought over the conversation he had with Milana in her office. When the doors opened, he straightened his jacket and walked out. He headed out the front doors of the hospital where Alfred was standing next to the car waiting for him. Alfred saw him coming and opened the back door to let him in, then closed it behind him. In the car, Bruce took the jar Milana gave him out of his pocket and set it in a cup holder. Alfred climbed in behind the wheel and looked at Bruce in the rear-view mirror.

"To Wayne Enterprises, sir?" He asked.

"Yeah. I've got to discuss something with Fox before I meet with..." He let the rest of the sentence hang because he could never remember the sad excuse for a man's last name, nor did he really want to say it.

"With the Doctor's friend?" Alfred helpfully finished for him.

"I think I remember her telling me they were engaged." Bruce mumbled. "After what happened the other night, I doubt that's still the case."

There was silence between them as Alfred started the car, then started the drive to Wayne Enterprises. On the way there, Bruce called Lucius Fox to ask to meet him in the board meeting room with any files they had on Nathan Hinckley.

When they reached the building, Alfred opened the back door for Bruce to get out. When he did, he turned to Alfred.

"Go to the bunker and see if you can dig up anything on Milana's ex-fiancée." Bruce said quietly to the butler. "And any additional information you might be able to get on Crane's whereabouts."

"Certainly, sir." Alfred replied as he closed the door.

Bruce nodded once, then walked into Wayne Enterprises while Alfred drove off. Walking through the lobby, Bruce nodded politely to anyone who greeted him as he made a beeline for the elevator. He rode the machine up to the meeting room and stepped out, only to be greeted by Fox, who was holding a file folder.

"Mr. Wayne." He said with a nod.

"Fox." Bruce replied.

The two moved from the middle of the hall to the boardroom. Fox took a seat in the chair on the corner of the long, wide table, setting the file down in front of him. Bruce sat at the seat next to him at the head of the table.

"May I ask why you asked me to dig up Hinckley's file?" Fox asked, getting right to it, glancing down at the opened file.

"Sure." Bruce paused briefly, then continued. "We have to fire him."

Fox's head shot up and wide eyes looked at Bruce questioningly. "Why? He's not half-bad as a lawyer and has won us several cases." He argued.

"I don't like him." Was Bruce's pretty honest response, then added: "Let's just call it 'creative differences'." He paused and watched as Fox rose an eyebrow but nodded. "And, off the record...I don't think we should be employing any man who finds it okay to hit women. In public no less."

Fox was clearly shocked at that statement. "You've seen him do this?"

"It was pretty close. A second later and she would have been flat on the floor." Bruce replied nonchalantly even though he was starting to seethe on the inside. "I've seen the bruises he'd given her, too."

"Really? And just how did you manage that?"

Bruce just smirked slightly and stayed silent.

Fox looked back down to the file. "Alright. You sure about this? This could come back to bite us in the ass one day."

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"Okay then."

An hour later, Bruce was standing further down the hall, leaning casually against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, watching and waiting for all of Wayne Enterprises' lawyers to file into the board room. When he was sure the last lawyer entered, he waited a good five minutes before slowly walking down the hall and entering the room silently to stand near the door to listen and observe. They were all seated at the far end of the long table. As Fox started the meeting, speaking firstly about the integrity of the company, Bruce watched Hinckley. The man was smirking, his chin up and glaring down at everyone else. The hoity-toity bastard needed to be knocked down a few pegs, that was for sure. Bruce grinned as he pictured different ways to 'take care' of him. Bruce let the grin drop and turned his attention back to the meeting as Fox turned his head to Hinckley.

"Which is why we find it in the company's best interest that we let you go, Mr. Hinckley." Fox said, looking straight at the man.

Bruce watched, satisfied, as Hinckley's 'holier than thou' smirk faded quickly into a frown.

"What do you mean 'let me go'? I'm the best damn lawyer this company has!" Hinckley said, clearly outraged.

Several snorts and scoffs of disagreement were heard and a few of the other lawyers rolled their eyes.

"Mr. Hinckley, if you need me to define the gentler term of being fired, I will, but as of this moment, you no longer work for Wayne Enterprises." Fox stated calmly. "Your desk and personal items must be removed from the premises by the end of the work day today."

"This is ridiculous!" Hinckley exclaimed, standing abruptly from his chair, his cheeks turning red from embarrassment and anger.

Bruce moved from the door to the chair at the head of the table, placing his hands on it and watched Hinckley closely.

"It was nice working with you, Nathan." One of the other lawyers mockingly said to him as he tried to hold back a smile. Most of the other lawyers were trying to hold back smiles as well.

Huffing hotly, Hinckley turned and started to storm out of the room. He saw Bruce and marched over to him on his way out.

"You haven't seen the last of me, Wayne." Nathan growled at him quietly as he passed him.

Bruce didn't reply, only followed the man with his eyes. _Until we meet again, bastard._ He thought. He watched as the now former Wayne Enterprises lawyer flung open the door and stomped out, letting the door slam behind him.

Bruce realized he was going to have to keep a close eye on the man for a while...and Milana.

"Good riddance." He heard one of the remaining lawyers say followed by grumbles of agreement.

* * *

When Nathan got back to the apartment that night, after cleaning out his office, he immediately picked up the phone and called one of his call girls. While he waited for the girl, he threw his box of items from the office into a hall closet, not ready to believe that he was out of a job. He then went towards Milana's bedroom and placed his hand on the door. He still had a hard time believing that his fiancée left him, too. How she got away, he was still trying to figure out. Just as he was about to open her door, the doorbell rang, indicating his pay-by-the-hour guest had arrived. When he answered the door, he didn't say anything, just lead her back to his bedroom where he sat on the edge of the bed and waited for her to earn her pay and pleasure him...as much as he could be pleasured in his current state of mind.

After they finished, Nathan was lying on his back, naked, with his hands folded behind his head. He was staring at the ceiling fan as he tried to think of a way to get back at Wayne and get Milana back just so he could bruise a woman and not have to pay for it. The girl lying just as naked next to him was curled on her side and stroking her fingers across his chest as she grinned lazily. He was getting irritated by the way she was petting him like he was some sort of animal. It wasn't helping him think either.

"Get out." He growled.

She stopped petting and sat up. "What?"

He turned his head towards her. "You heard me. Get out."

"Why?" She asked, getting out of the bed to collect her clothes and start dressing again.

Nathan watched her for a moment before replying. "Because I need to think and I can't think with a whore pawing at me." He said with a sneer.

"Fuck you!" She yelled indignantly.

"Ya already did that, bitch."

She huffed, her feathers ruffled, then turned and left the bedroom, slamming the door behind her so hard, it rattled the window.

Nathan heard the main door to the apartment slam as well, then let out a puff of air. Sitting up, he reached for his phone and dialed Crane's cell number.

After two rings, the line was connected. "_Crane._" The other man answered.

"It's Hinckley. We need a meeting ASAP. Plans need to be altered." He replied.

"_I'm a bit busy at the moment, but I'll be over once I'm free._" Crane said.

"Fine. I'll be here." Nathan growled, then hung up.

He tossed the phone onto the bed next to him, then ran his hands over his face. He stood up and headed to his bathroom to grab a quick shower. When he finished getting the feel of the girl's fingers off of his body, he walked back into his bedroom, a towel wrapped around his waist. Pulling a pair of boxers and sweatpants out of drawers, he put them on then walked out to the kitchen to get a cold bottle of beer out of the refrigerator.

With his beer in hand, he went to Milana's bedroom and opened the door. The first thing he noticed was the newly replaced sliding glass door that led out to her balcony. His eyes then scanned the room and rested on her three boxes full of possessions. He knelt down on the floor next to the nearest box and opened the lid. Staring into the box, he set his beer on a nearby shelf, then dug through the neatly packed items.

_She really was going to leave me_. He thought in wonderment, which quickly turned to anger.

"That bitch!" He yelled as he picked up the box and took it out to the living room where the fireplace was located in front of the only couch.

He pressed a button on the wall that instantly ignited flames in the place, then opened the protective grate in front of it. He dumped the contents of the box into the flames, then threw the box across the room, denting a corner of the box, against the wall. He crossed his arms over his chest and watched the items either burn or melt away into ashes. When the things were gone, he went back into Milana's bedroom and grabbed the other two boxes. He threw the possessions of both boxes into the fire, then threw boxes themselves away from him. Going back into her bedroom, he grabbed his beer and downed the rest of it in one go, then threw the bottle over his shoulder as he sat down on the couch to glare at the burning items and to wait for Crane.

He wanted, no, _needed_ Milana back.

* * *

It had been a long day for Milana. After Bruce left her that morning, she divided her time between going over patient's records and visiting the patients themselves. Most of her time was spent in her office staring out of the window and thinking back on all that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. She had taken the paper with Bruce's address and phone number out of her pocket and put it somewhere where no one would find it: taped securely under the top of her desk, inside the middle drawer.

It was close to ten o'clock that night, when Milana walked into her office with another patient file in her hands. She sighed and tossed the file to her desk before sitting behind it. She rubbed wearily at her eyes, then opened the file.

About twenty minutes later, a knock sounded at her door.

"Come in." She called.

Molly opened the door a bit to smile, then opened it all the way to reveal that she was carrying a tray of food from the cafeteria two floors down. "Figured you'd be in here...and haven't eaten anything since this morning." She said as she walked into the office and set the tray on Milana's desk.

Milana smiled and moved folders around. Molly sat in one of the guest chairs and handed Milana a sandwich.

"Thank you." The doctor said, gratefully, taking a bite.

"Welcome." Molly replied, picking up her own sandwich and biting off a mouthful and swallowing before she spoke again. "So now that you're not in that apartment anymore, where are you sleeping tonight?"

"Here." Milana readily answered.

"Are you sure? I mean, you know you're more than welcome at my place." The nurse said.

"I know," Milana sighed, "but I have a lot of files and paperwork to go over since I didn't get much done yesterday before I was rushed out of here to get ready for Wayne's goddamn party." She frowned.

Molly was silent for a moment. "Well, at least you're out of that apartment and away from that fucker." She reasoned.

"Yeah." Milana said softly, looking down at her sandwich.

Molly handed her a bottle of water and the two continued their late-night dinner in silence. Once they finished, Molly suggested that she change the bandages on Milana's back for the night. Milana agreed and stayed in her office, while the nurse went to get more supplies (and to dispose of their dinner remnants). When Molly came back, Milana took off her doctor coat and put it in her closet, then took off her shirt and bra, holding her shirt over her chest for a bit of modesty. Molly then removed the old bandages and looked closely at the cuts.

"How are they looking?" Milana asked, turning her head to the side to see the nurse out of the corner of her eye.

"Better, actually." She replied. "I gotta hand it to that butler of Wayne's."

"Alfred. His name's Alfred." Milana said quietly, turning her head back to face forward.

She missed Molly's smirk.

Molly continued by putting antiseptic over the wounds and bandaging them up for the night. When she was finished, Milana put her shirt back on, forgoing her bra since she wasn't going to be wandering around the hospital at this time of night.

"Thank you, my friend." Milana said, standing from her chair.

"You're more than welcome." Molly replied as she threw away the used bandages, then turned to watch her friend as she went into her closet to pull out a box.

In the box was an inflatable mattress that Milana had bought a few months ago when things between her and Nathan were going south real fast. She spent a lot of nights sleeping in her office just to stay away from her former fiancée.

"Are you sure you don't just want to come stay with me? At least for the night?" Molly asked, watching Milana plug in the air pump to inflate the mattress.

"I'm sure, Moll. I'll be fine here. I promise." The doctor replied with a grin.

Molly looked at her skeptically, but relented. "Alright. But tomorrow, you're coming home with me. I don't like you here by yourself." She crossed the room to hug her friend. "Call me if you need anything. And I mean _anything_."

Milana nodded. "I know. I have your number on speed dial." She said and released Molly.

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow." Molly said walking to the door. "Get at least a few hours of sleep."

"I will." Milana said. "Night, Molly."

"G'night, Milana."

The nurse left the office and Milana immediately crossed the room to lock the door behind her. Leaning against the door she took a deep breath, then pushed herself away to go into her closet again to grab a small pillow and a blanket. She tossed them next to the still-inflating mattress then walked over to her window to glance out.

Milana stood off to the side so she wasn't completely seen if anyone happened to look up. She crossed her arms under her breasts as she looked out.

The real reason she didn't want to go to Molly's that night was because if Nathan was going to come after her, she rather he ruined her things than her friend's when his temper reached its peak...which would be bound to happen since she told him she was leaving him. She only wanted to protect her friend.

_Would you be including Bruce Wayne into your small circle of friends?_ She asked herself with a small grin. _Maybe. Eventually._

She turned her head to look at the mattress. Seeing that it was inflated enough, she turned completely away from the window and changed into a pair of mesh shorts she kept in the closet. She unplugged the pump, then wrapped herself in the blanket and hopped across the floor to turn out the lights, double-checking that the door was locked. Once the lights were out, she hopped over to the mattress and lied down on her stomach, pulling the pillow up onto the mattress and under her head. She eventually fell asleep about an hour later.

Little did she know, she was being observed by two pairs of eyes from two different locations.

* * *

**A/N:** _Okay, there we go! Nice and long for you since I've been slacking...and some plot developments._

_Lemme know what you think by leaving a review, please! And seriously, check out that trailer (imdb .com should have it on the site by now)!_


	11. Author's Note

**Author's Note (important):**

I'm really sorry to have to do this, but I have to put a halt on my stories for a while...

On November 21, 2011, we had to put my dog of fifteen years (and four months) to sleep. :'-( She was the love of my life; she was _MY_ dog.

This week has been extremely rough for me and my family. This Thanksgiving was the first that we really knew she was gone...she's normally under the table looking for scraps of turkey, but she wasn't there this year. I almost went to pick a piece of turkey off my plate and lower it under the table, but stopped myself and almost started crying. Even right now it's six in the morning and I haven't slept at all...every time I close my eyes, I see her and start crying. I'm not sleeping tonight. I've cried myself to sleep every night since she passed.

I've tried to write something for any of the stories I have going, but anything I write is shitty. I'm finding it very hard to write romance when my heart has a large chunk taken out of it. I'm depressed and sad.

For those of you [assholes] who're thinking: 'It's just a dog'...fuck you! She was a member of this family and her passing is and will be hard; especially with the upcoming holiday(s).

So, again, I'm sorry, but I can't write right now. I'm not sure when I'll be able to again...maybe in the new year, maybe sooner. I'll keep working and writing down notes, but for now everything is on hold.

(Sorry if you get two of these...I'm an idiot and still type 2010 when I mean 2011...and I'm a bit sleepy/not with it...)


	12. Nightmares Can Come True

**A/N:**_ Uh...hi? I know, I've been away from this story for a while...and I apologize. To make a really long story short: my job sucks and is slowly sucking the life outta me (I really need to find a new job because I hate this one), so when I decided to come back to this story, I had to work a 10 hour night-shift, then get no sleep before leaving at 7AM to drive to my brother's to go to a star Trek convention to see Sir Patrick Stewart speak (funny thing: I went to a stark Trek convention and came home with a Walking Dead souvenir). Then the next weekend I wanted to write, I participated in a Tough Mudder event and was so tired and sore that whole weekend, I didn't want to do shit. Then I got lazy for a week and here I am! _

_This chapter took me a while to write and it's probably not up to par with the previous chapters...since it's been so long (sorry) and my other stories are written differently.  
_

_Thank you to anyone who sent condolences [about my dog]. I really appreciated it.  
_

_Now, on with the story! Enjoy! (FYI: a line of zeros is a passage of time.)  
_

* * *

Milana woke up before the sun the next morning. She still had paperwork from the night before sitting on her desk. Groaning, she sat up on the inflatable mattress and stretched her arms over her head. She tossed the blanket to the side as she stood up and cracked her neck and back. Milana then walked to the closet to take a lavender-colored button up shirt off one of the hangers. She picked up her bra from the day before and, after tossing off the T-shirt, she clasped on the bra (being wary of her bandages), followed by the shirt. Going back into the closet, she took off her mesh shorts and replaced them with a pair of khaki trousers she took off a pants hanger.

Once dressed, she turned her attention back to her "bed". Kneeling on the floor next to the mattress, she pulled the plug keeping the air in and watched it deflate while she picked up and folded the blanket. When the mattress was flat and all of the air was sucked out, Milana folded it tight and shoved it back into its box. Picking up both the blanket and box, she returned them to their places in the closet.

After tidying up her sleeping spot and closing the closet (deciding to take care of her dirty clothes later), Milana took a deep breath and sat down at her desk to conclude her paperwork.

As Milana was signing off on the last page of the last folder of the paperwork from the previous night, her desk phone rang, making her jump. Setting down her pen, she glanced at the clock on the opposite wall as she reached for the phone.

"Doctor Dolak." She answered, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"_Hey girl_." Came the cheerful voice of Molly.

"Mmm, hey, Moll." Milana groaned, leaning back in her chair.

"_Have you left your office yet?_" The nurse asked.

"No, I forgot to do my paperwork before going to sleep, so I've been working on it since I got up." She replied.

"_So you haven't seen the paper yet, either._" Molly's voice wasn't so cheerful now as she stated her observation.

Milana sat up straighter. "No. Should I have?"

"_Shit._" Molly mumbled. "_I'm bringing it in to you._" Without another word, Molly hung up the phone.

Milana pulled the receiver away from her ear to stare at it, confused, before slowly replacing it on the cradle.

Less than thirty seconds later, there was a frantic knocking on her office door. The knocking stopped momentarily as the door knob was rattled, before the pounding resumed.

"Milana, let me in!" Molly yelled through the door.

Quickly, Milana got out of her chair and went to unlock and open the door for her friend. Molly stepped into the room and shut the door swiftly behind her. She shoved the paper into Milana's face. Taking a step back, Milana took the paper from Molly's hands and looked down at the headlines.

"_Gotham Rogues Win Super Bowl_? Molly, I don't care about sports." Milana said, lowering the paper.

"No, no, Mi. Down here." She stepped to Milana's side as the doctor raised the paper again and pointed to an article about halfway down the front page, on the left-hand side.

"_Top Wayne Enterprises Lawyer Fired_?" Milana read aloud. "Oh, my god." She whispered, letting her hands fall to her sides. Before her loose fingers let the paper fall to the floor, she lifted it again and read through the article. One of her worst fears was confirmed as she read that Nathan was fired the previous day because of "creative differences" between him, Wayne, and other Wayne Enterprises lawyers. "Oh, my god." She repeated, moving slowly over to one of her client chairs and flopping down into it. "He's pissed."

Molly scoffed. "Oh, I'm sure he's more than pissed."

"Yeah, he's gonna want to go on a destructive rampage." Milana paused. "And probably start with me." She locked eyes with Molly.

"How can he start with you if he can't get his hands on you?" Molly asked. "If you stay in the hospital and stay in sight of others, you'll be safe. We can have the security level raised—"

"No, Molly, I'm not worth it." Milana said, shaking her head.

"Bullshit!" Molly growled. "You are _thee_ best goddamn fuckin' neurologist this city has ever seen, Milana." She kneeled down next to Milana's chair, taking her friend's hand in hers. "If anything ever happened to you, I won't be the only one to be upset."

"I know, Moll." Milana whispered. "But adding more security isn't going to help. People here are afraid of Nathan, they'll just let him walk in because he'll flash them a fake smile and give them some bullshit comment about how nice their clothes are. No, Molly. I can take care of this." Milana felt herself getting stronger, mentally preparing for a fight that was sure to come.

Too bad no one taught her how to throw a punch.

But no one ever said scratching and biting were out of bounds.

Milana stood from the chair she collapsed in and picked up the discarded newspaper. Circling around behind her desk, she tossed the paper into the trash can before grabbing her doctor coat and swinging it on over her shoulders. She grabbed the files that were sitting on the desk.

"Time to start the day, Molly." Milana said with a tiny smirk as she walked to her door.

"You're crazy, Milana." Molly said with a straight face, following Milana.

"Not crazy. Determined. Determined to live my life, not have it be ruled by some pathetic excuse for a man." Milana said, now frowning, as she opened the door.

"And I'll have your back." Molly said instantly.

"I know." Milana said softly as they walked through the door. She closed and locked the door behind them as they made their way to the nurses' station to start the work day.

0000000000

Around three in the afternoon that day, Milana was standing at the nurses' station signing off on a release form when she heard her name being called from the elevator. She froze instantly recognizing the voice of her ex-fiancée. Turning, her eyes widened as Nathan walked towards her, a fake smile blossoming on his face. Milana glanced around, looking for Molly. She didn't see the nurse anywhere. She brought her eyes back to Nathan when he stopped in front of her.

"Milana, darling." He started, his fake smile turning into a sneer.

Milana frowned at the term of endearment.

"What are you doing here, Nathan?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"I'm just stopping by for a visit. May I speak to you in private?"

Before she could answer, he took hold of her upper arm (tighter than necessary) and pulled her towards her office. Milana turned her gaze back to the nurse sitting behind the desk.

"Please have Molly see me as soon as she returns." She said, pleading with her eyes.

"Of course, doctor." The nurse answered, picking up the phone, starting to page Molly.

Milana reluctantly followed Nathan down the hall to her office. They stopped directly outside of her door, but Nathan didn't let go of her arm, only held on tighter.

"Unlock the door." He growled.

_Oh god. He's beyond pissed. Molly better get here soon._ Milana thought as she dug into her pocket with a shaking hand. Pulling the key out of her pocket, she steadied her hand long enough to insert the key into the lock and opened the door.

As soon as the door was open, Nathan threw Milana in and closed the door behind him. Milana stumbled as she tried to regain her balance.

"You fucking bitch." Nathan growled, crossing his arms over his chest as he glared at Milana.

"I didn't do a damn thing." She returned, glaring back.

"What?" He asked levelly.

"You heard me." She said, feeling herself ball her hands into fists at her sides.

Nathan took a step forward. "Don't you ever talk to me like that."

"You have no control over my life anymore, Nathan, so shut the fuck up and get out of here."

"You cunt! YOU GOT ME FIRED! You deserve worse than what I'm about to give you." Nathan stalked towards her and raised his hand. Before Milana could move, he had his hand wrapped around her throat and was pushing her up against the closest wall, her feet dangling a few inches off of the floor.

Milana let out a yelp as her cut up back hit the wall. She winced in pain as she tried to arch away from the wall to relieve the pressure, but Nathan's hand around her throat made breathing her first priority. She brought her hands up in an attempt to pry his hand away, her short nails trying to find purchase in the back of his hand. Nathan's other hand came up and slapped her across her cheek, making Milana pause in her struggle.

Nathan grinned maliciously and increased the pressure on her throat making her gasp for air. He opened his mouth to make another comment when a few knocks on the door interrupted him. Letting go of Milana, she fell to the floor and slumped against the wall, gasping for breath.

"Tell them to go away." Nathan demanded softly so only Milana could hear.

Still gasping for air, Milana got to her feet unsteadily and went to the door. Opening it, she saw Molly on the other side, frowning and carrying a walkie-talkie. The nurse nudged Milana to the side as she pushed open the door and glared at Nathan.

"You might want to remove yourself from these premises, Mr. Hinckley." She said, glaring at the man.

"Or what?" Nathan scoffed. "You gonna try to kick me out, little woman?"

"I have security on hold and will gladly escort you if you do not leave now, _sir_." Molly stressed the title mockingly, holding up the walkie-talkie.

Nathan huffed and sauntered towards the door. He turned to look Milana up and down. "You'll pay." He snarled before stalking through the door and down the hallway.

Milana had finally gotten her breath back and she slumped down to the floor where she stood. Molly rushed over to her, tossing the walkie-talkie to the floor next to them. She looked Milana over and could clearly see the bruises forming on her throat and a red welt in the shape of a hand on her left cheek. She gently took the doctor's face in her hands.

"Are you alright?" She asked, looking over her features with a critical eye.

"I'm fine." Milana replied, her voice cracking and gravelly. She coughed, then winced.

"Clearly you're not."

"I will be. I just won't talk to anyone for about an hour." She coughed again and gagged slightly.

Molly stared at her, wondering what sort of strength the woman in front of her had. Wondering if she really was crazy.

"Fine, but drink some hot tea. It'll at least soothe your throat a bit." Molly said with a sigh.

"I will. No worries."

"And you're coming home with me tonight. There's no way I'm going to leave you on your own. Not after that display." Molly informed. "And this is non-negotiable." She added with a smile to lessen some tension.

Milana stared up at her one and only friend...so far. She knew arguing with the woman wouldn't do any good. When Molly's mind was set, it was impossible to change it. Milana grinned.

"Alright, Molly." She said. "End of shift, I'm going home with you."

"Good." Molly said, resolutely. She then stood up by placing her palms on the floor and pushing herself up. She stretched out a hand towards Milana.

Milana glanced at the hand briefly before reaching her own up and clasping Molly's wrist so she could pull her up. Back on her feet, Milana had to rest against the wall for a moment to make sure she felt okay to move. She saw Molly watching her closely. Taking a breath and letting it out quickly, she nodded to her friend.

"I'm okay." She said stepping towards the door. "Let's get that tea."

0000000000

At the end of shift that night, after making her rounds and gathering a bag of belongings from her locker and closet, Milana met Molly back at the nurses' station. The nurse, with her purse and own belongings in hand, met the doctor and they signed out.

As they were walking to the elevator to head to the parking garage, Milana remembered the small business card taped to the underside of her middle desk drawer. The one with Bruce Wayne's address and phone number written on it. She told Molly to wait for her by the elevator while she ran back to her office and grabbed the card. Just in case. After locking her office door and slipping her key and the business card into her jeans pocket, she ran back to the elevator. Milana and Molly stepped into the metal box and headed down to the lobby of the hospital before crossing said lobby to a door that lead to the parking garage. Her eyes and head on a swivel, Milana looked around for anything suspicious until they reached Molly's silver Toyota Corolla. Molly took her key fob out of her pocket and hit the door unlock button. Milana swiftly walked to the passenger's side and opened the back door, tossing her bag on the back seat before closing the door. She then opened the front door, got in the passenger's seat and shut the door. Molly followed close after. She started the car and they drove towards Molly's townhouse mostly in silence. The only sound being the soundtrack to one of Molly's favorite movie musicals, _Newsies, _coming softly from the car's speakers_._

When they reached Molly's house, on the outskirts of downtown Gotham, they took their things out of the car and headed inside. Molly took Milana's bag and put it in the guest room on the ground floor at the back of the house. She then made her way to the kitchen and her stack of take-out menus. Picking up the stack she brought it out to Milana who was sitting on the couch in the living room.

"Hungry?" She asked the doctor, holding up the menus.

"Famished." Milana replied, taking the menus and looking through them.

They decided on Chinese delivery. Molly ordered orange shrimp and Milana got chicken and broccoli; they both ordered two spring rolls each. They turned the television on to some channel showing a movie as they waited for their food to arrive. When the food did arrive, they ate in relative silence as they continued to watch another movie on TV.

Around eleven o'clock that night, Milana started to nod off during the late-night news. Saying good night to Molly, she got up off the couch to throw out her garbage from dinner, then headed to the guest room. She took pajamas out of her travel bag, then walked the few feet down the hall to the bathroom to change. After brushing her teeth, she headed back down the hall to the bedroom, where she tossed her clothes onto the top of her bag, then flopped onto the bed. Squirming around, she managed to pull the covers back and slid underneath. Yawning, she got comfortable in the sheets and fell asleep minutes later.

0000000000

Around one o'clock in the morning, Milana was awoken by shouting from the entrance way of the house. Not wanting to be seen in her PJs, she changed into her jeans from earlier then slowly and silently made her way towards the noise. As she got steadily closer, she could clearly make out Molly's high voice shouting obscenities and telling the other person to get out. When the other person in the argument spoke up, she could tell they were male, but what was being said, she couldn't understand. He sounded drunk. When she walked around the corner to see what the hubbub was all about, she gasped.

Standing in the open doorway was Nathan, drunk, and holding a handgun loosely in his hand.

"Oh, my god." She said, stepping around the corner. "Nathan. What the hell are you doing here?"

"There you are, you whore." He slurred, tightening his hold on the gun.

"What are you doing here?" She repeated, taking a step closer.

"Looking for you. Duh." Nathan laughed at his own quip.

Molly stepped up next to Nathan. "You need to leave. Now." She said, pointing back to the open door.

"Or what?" He scoffed. "No security here."

"No, but the police are only a phone call away." Molly glared.

Nathan turned to her and frowned. "You need to shut up, bitch."

"This is my house. I can do what ever the fuck I please. Now GET OUT!" Molly yelled.

"Molly." Milana warned, looking at her with worry. A drunken Nathan was never someone you wanted to deal with.

But it was too late.

Quickly, as though he wasn't drunk at all, Nathan turned to face Molly and raised the gun in one movement. He pulled the trigger once, sending the bullet into Molly's heart.

Milana screamed as Molly turned stunned eyes to her before they rolled into the back of her head and she fell to the floor where she stood. Milana covered her mouth with both hands as she turned wide eyes back to Nathan, who was staring down at the nurse with a twisted smirk on his lips.

While his gaze was diverted, Milana grew increasingly angry and felt her resolve harden. She took quick steps towards Nathan, grabbing a table lamp on the sideboard in the hallway as she went (she had to yank on it to pull the cord from the wall). Not even thinking about it, she swung the lamp like a baseball bat at Nathan's head. He was starting to look back at her, but the metal hood covering the light bulb hit his temple, dazing him. He started to lift the gun, but Milana swung the lamp again, hitting the same spot on his temple and shattering the bulb. She saw his eyes start to roll, so once more she hit him and he fell face first onto the floor at her feet.

Panting, Milana looked down on the unconscious Nathan with disgust before dropping the bent lamp and rushing over to Molly. She lifted Molly into her arms.

"Molly? Molly! Can you hear me?" She asked.

Molly's eyes fluttered open, but only half-way.

"Mi. I...I'm s-so...sor-sorry." Molly replied, gasping.

"No, Moll. It's all my fault. _I'm_ sorry. You have nothing to be sorry for." Milana said, tears starting to form in her eyes.

"Mi..." Molly managed to say before the life left her eyes and her breathing stopped.

"No. No, no, no! Molly!" Milana cried, tears running freely down her cheeks.

Milana held tightly to her only friend's lifeless body as she sobbed. She sat there, mumbling the nurse's name over and over; for how long, she didn't know.

Eventually, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nathan start to regain consciousness. Not having any choice but to get out of the house, she said her last goodbyes to Molly, then got off the floor and ran out the door. Tears still falling down her face, she ran down the street and around the corner. Trying to think quickly of where she could go, she could come up with nothing, nowhere she could go that would guarantee her safety...except for one place.

Pausing on the corner of the next street, Milana pulled the business card out of her pocket, glancing at the address to Bruce Wayne's mansion in the Palisades through her tears.

Not having anyway to call a cab (let alone pay for it) and not willing to risk going back to Molly's house to get the nurse's car, Milana ran. She ran all the way to Wayne Manor, slowing to a walk when her tears got the best of her and she needed to breathe easier.

At least the Palisades weren't on the other side of Gotham.

When Milana finally reached the long, gravel drive up to Wayne Manor, she paused and tried to get her breath back. She heard a car slowly drive down the road. Being paranoid that it could be Nathan following her, she sprinted down the drive as fast as she could in her bare, dirty, and now bloodied feet until she reached the steps up to the front door. She slumped on the steps a moment, feeling the tears start again, before she crawled up them with what remaining strength she had. At the top, she pulled herself up by the door handle and rang the doorbell to the left of the door numerous times. She then resorted to beating a fist on the door weakly. It felt like hours to Milana before the door opened to reveal Alfred.

* * *

"Doctor Dolak?" The butler greeted in surprise. He took in her haggard appearance and saw the tear tracks down her cheeks. "What's happened?"

Milana tried to explain, but through her tears and shortness of breath, it sounded like gibberish to Alfred. He could only decipher 'Nathan', 'Molly', and 'dead'. He held up his hands to stop her ramblings.

"Doctor, slow down." He said, stepping towards her. She looked like she was going to faint, she was so exhausted.

Milana nodded once and attempted to get her breath back enough to be understood.

"I need help. I have no where else to. Nathan's out to get me. He kill...He killed Molly." The last was whispered, but the tears came again, along with quick breathes.

Alfred's eyes widened and he was about to lead her into the house when he saw her eyes slide out of focus and her breathing even out quickly. Reaching for her, he caught her just as her eyes rolled back into her head and she started to collapse where she stood. From his awkward hold on her under her arms, he slowly lowered her to the ground. He got a better grip on the doctor (one arm under her knees, the other behind her shoulders), then carried her into the house, setting her on the closest comfortable couch. He knew he wouldn't be able to carry her much further, Master Wayne having all the muscles of the house.

Checking Doctor Dolak's pulse to make sure she was alright, he left her alone for a few minutes to walk to the kitchen. He took a glass out of the cabinet and filled it with cold water. Turning, he reached for the device that would connect him to Batman.

"Sir." He said into it.

"_Alfred._" Came the gravelly voice of the vigilante.

"Doctor Dolak is at the Manor, sir." The butler said.

"_What?_"

"She came to the door in tears. It was hard to get the whole story out of her, but she said something about that Nathan fellow killing someone named Molly." He explained.

There was silence for several moments on Batman's end.

"_Is she injured?_" He finally asked.

"No, but her feet are bare and I have a feeling she walked or ran here. She fainted after I answered the door."

"_I'll be back as soon as I can._" Batman growled.

"Yes, sir." Alfred said, setting the device back down.

He dug through another cabinet to retrieve a tea towel. He ran it under cool water then rung it out. Picking up the glass of water, Alfred took it and the towel back to the couch where he left the doctor. He set the glass and towel on the small table next to it. Moving one of the luxurious chairs in the room closer to the couch, the butler sat at the doctor's side. He picked up the towel and folded it into thirds before placing it gently on Doctor Dolak's forehead.

Alfred stayed in the chair to keep an eye on her until she either woke up or Master Wayne returned home.

* * *

**A/N: **_Such a depressing chapter...don't shoot the writer. LOL. I know there wasn't a lot...well, not any really...of Bruce in this chapter, but he'll definitely be in the next one a lot more._

_Please leave a review to let me know I didn't fuck up this chapter too badly.  
_


	13. INDEFINITE HIATUS

Hello Dark Knight fanfiction world! (warning: ranting and cursing ahead)

I have to apologize for a number of things:

First, I apologize for taking forever in my updates (for this fict and my others). Life bullshit got in the way; long story short, I got a new job in October, then got hit with the Christmas rush so I had no time to do anything other than work, sleep and occasionally eat. Then the day after New Years I got "let go" from said job and got pissed off beyond belief (I still am, actually). So now I'm unemployed and not very happy about it, but it does leave more time for writing fanfiction.

Which leads me to my second apology...

I'm really sorry about this, but I'm going to have to put this fict on hiatus indefinitely. I've thought a lot about this and I even thought about taking the story down in general, but that's just not fair to myself or to those of you who like this fict. I have three main reasons for this decision:

1) Writer's block—I had a small blurb for the next chapter written, then I couldn't think of more to write. I thought when Dark Knight Rises came out in theaters, I'd get more inspiration, but it never came. I would stare at my Word document, but nothing would flow out of my fingers. I re-read what chapters I have and still nothing. When DKR finally came out on DVD, I thought that might help, but, nope, nothing...again.

2) Lack of interest—in both myself and readers. I thought with DKR coming out, there'd be more of an interest, but no. Again, I keep thinking about this fict and know I should continue, but the will to continue is just not there anymore. And we all know forced writing sucks major balls for both reader and writer.

3) People who gripe about my plot—This is a big 'I don't want to write' sore spot (and this may turn into a bit of a rant). I've gotten several reviews saying that the arranged marriage plot point is bullshit and unbelievable. Well, if you haven't noticed this is fanFICTION, not fanNON-FICTION. In the fiction universe, I can do whatever the fuck I please and if that means an arranged marriage, then so be it. If you don't like it, you don't have to read it. I'm not forcing you to read. And I really don't care if you read or not, but questioning my plot in FANFICTION is just rude.

In my defense of the arranged marriage plot point, sure people don't really do it anymore, but maybe some families do. Maybe some "richer" families still arrange marriages for money or social rankings or to keep the bloodlines pure or whatever...I don't know, I obviously am not one of them.

Or maybe I'm completely off with this argument...I don't care anymore.

I'm a fairly sensitive person (I even dreaded posting this), so to have my writing questioned really gets me down, then angry, which has lead me to this. And if you want to tell me that I'm a pussy or a sissy or defeated, then keep it to yourself. Again, I'm not forcing you to read anything, so you can just fuck off if that's how you feel. (Go ahead and roll your eyes; I know you want to.)

Okay, so now that my ranting is done...I am really sorry to those of you who actually like this fict and were hoping this was an update. Maybe sometime in the future I'll come back to this fict, but for now, this is where I leave it. If someone wants to help me along, that's fine, but I'm not expecting it.

So for now, thank you to everyone who has supported me by reading, alerting, favoriting and/or leaving an encouraging review.


End file.
